The Pony Express
by Red Horseman
Summary: More adventures with our favorite bounty hunter.
1. Default Chapter

The Pony Express  
  
Chapter 1: Injustice for All  
  
Red Horseman  
  
* * * *  
  
Evil is relative, Annalist. You can't hang a sign on it.   
  
You can't touch it or taste it or cut it with a sword.  
  
Evil depends on where you are standing, pointing your  
  
indicting finger.  
  
---The Black Company, First Novel  
  
* * * *  
  
Mikhail Webster was everything most people strived to be in their life. He   
  
was rich, powerful, handsome, and demanded by others. But his meteoric rise in   
  
the business world had been achieved by questionable means. Board members of his   
  
own company and those of his rivals that he was taking over mysteriously   
  
disappeared, or suddenly reversed their opposition. And like all people who got   
  
away with crimes, he became more daring and arrogant in what he did while   
  
sinking further. So he didn't even worry about repercussions concerning his   
  
activities, or hobbies as he landed his personal shuttle next to a small air-car   
  
in a remote desert of Zenor.  
  
"You're late," the procurement specialist flatly told him.   
  
Webster shrugged. "Who cares?"  
  
"I do! The cargo you requested is hot stuff and the authorities desperately   
  
want it back." While he was talking, the specialist reached in his vehicle and   
  
pulled out the first package before grabbing the other. "Prime condition as   
  
always, sir."  
  
"I'll be the judge of that."  
  
With that Mikhail touched a camouflaged stud on one of the packages and   
  
another on its companion. The material shifted and flowed to the ground   
  
revealing the true merchandise he had ordered. Another touch released the   
  
restraints and a sigh came from the subjects, as they were finally able to   
  
stretch. Careful planning and misdirection ensured his wife and children remained   
  
ignorant of his hobby. His pulse quickened and he felt his body reacting in the   
  
usual way as he studied what was his.  
  
The pre-pubescent twin blonde girls were what everyone in the entertainment   
  
industry wanted to cash in on. A hysterical giggle erupted from the man at the   
  
coup he had pulled off while he caressed their flesh. It had been decades since   
  
he had stumbled upon the illicit trade before quickly becoming the largest buyer.   
  
His earlier requests had been small, a girl of such and such age at a certain   
  
place, before becoming more daring. He grinned insanely at what had caused his   
  
hobby to accelerate as he forced knees apart.   
  
Genetic engineering and research had made a dramatic breakthrough where aging   
  
and the physical changes associated with it could be accelerated, reversed, or   
  
even halted. Laws based on age were rendered obsolete in an instant and society   
  
was torn asunder by that discovery, as anyone with enough money could be any age.   
  
What was worse was that people with money could age a minor to legal stature and   
  
evade the strongest penalties. It had taken another decade before research,   
  
understanding, and technology had progressed enough where laws could be passed   
  
and effectively enforced.  
  
Now no one under the age of fourteen could be age accelerated and receive all   
  
that was associated with it. Implants ensured the innocent of youth, but like   
  
everything in life the equipment wasn't infallible. The black marketers had   
  
learned that if their trade from older gentlemen and ladies for teens was to  
  
continue they had to provide another source, and adapted. It wasn't just the   
  
flesh people wanted but also the innocence involved with someone immature. And   
  
that was where the desert meeting came into the scheme of things for both buyer   
  
and seller.  
  
"Perfect," purred Webster and walked to his shuttle.  
  
If he had spent his years and money in perfecting his personal defenses,   
  
Mikhail Webster might've survived long enough to wonder what had gone wrong.   
  
Instead he barely had enough time to register the sound of metal impacting metal   
  
before his world disappeared in a fireball. The shuttle disintegrated, the   
  
hypersonic round puncturing its primary fuel tank, and sent shrapnel and flames   
  
in all directions. It was only the intervening bulk of the land vehicle that   
  
allowed the twins to survive the devastation. Unfortunately, the sight of their   
  
captor shredded combined with their kidnapping proved too much for the girls   
  
causing them to faint.  
  
- - - -  
  
  
  
"You going to wake up."  
  
The quiet calm voice somehow penetrated the foggy depths of Renee Sakyo's   
  
mind and she forced her eyes to open. She flinched and tried to back away as she   
  
saw a man squatting in front of her and her sister. A whimper escaped her lips   
  
and she pushed away the outstretched hand, remembering the last person to touch   
  
her. The girl heard a sigh from the man and he reached to the clasps on his   
  
helmet and undid the last catches before placing it on the ground. Renee had to   
  
revise the picture in her mind as a young man, not a lecherous old male, stared   
  
at her with sad eyes. Tears started trickling from her eyes and her bottom lip   
  
trembled as she realized she had been covered and her sister too.  
  
"Did mom send you?" she whispered.  
  
"Yes, your mom and dad sent me," the teenager told her and was surprised as   
  
she lunged at him. He stroked her silky hair while she embraced him and   
  
cried. "It's all right, you don't have to cry. No one will hurt you."  
  
His voice held a confidence that reassured her that he was speaking the truth   
  
and not something to calm her. She had heard it from her father many times and   
  
he had never failed to follow through for Angela or her. Releasing her hold, she   
  
weakly wiped at her tears before trying to stand, but a hand on her shoulder   
  
stopped the girl.   
  
"I need to go dock."  
  
Renee knew her father would be disappointed that she hadn't noticed where she   
  
was until told. He had spent millions on their education in preparing them for   
  
the harsh reality of the real world. Their teachers had been varied ranging from   
  
former military personnel to research scientists. With an unwavering   
  
determination she had rarely felt before in her life she made up her mind to   
  
follow her rescuer. Her face reddened when she threw off her blanket but her   
  
nudity didn't stop her as she wrapped the material around her slender frame. The   
  
armored door hissed open at her approach and she stood there in shock at the   
  
sight before her.  
  
She had been in space many times, but it had always been in a cabin with no   
  
windows, or sensor projectors. So the spinning kaleidoscope from the armored   
  
viewport of cabin was almost too much for her and she found herself staggering.   
  
A hand gently gripped her shoulder and steered her to the co-pilot's seat where   
  
she was automatically strapped in. To keep from throwing up, she concentrated on   
  
a display of the reactor and was amazed at the power it was generating until she   
  
noticed another screen.  
  
"Is Angela okay?" she asked weakly.  
  
The man smiled. "She's fine. It's just that she caught a piece of shrapnel in   
  
her back. To be on the safe side the medical computer is keeping her sedated for   
  
the time being." He turned from the view to glance at her. "I can override it if  
  
you want to talk to her."  
  
"No. Let her sleep." She risked a view and was surprised at the fast approach   
  
of a ship. "Watch out!"  
  
The bounty hunter laughed for the first time in weeks as the girl turned red   
  
when she realized her mistake. He was impressed that for someone so young she   
  
was maturely handling her kidnapping and rescue, though he knew her calmness   
  
would evaporate when she saw her parents. He sighed wondering if he had made a   
  
mistake by not keeping her sedated with her sister, but he'd wanted the company.   
  
"You're going to have to stay with your sister for the rest of the trip."  
  
"But..."  
  
"No, my ship isn't a place where you can go exploring without risk." He   
  
started the shut down procedures when he felt the solid thump of landing. "The   
  
cabin has everything you need for the journey."  
  
"Okay."  
  
He noticed her chewing her lip again. "What now?"  
  
"I'm sorry for being so rude. I never thanked you for rescuing us and I never   
  
asked you-" She smiled brightly. "-your name."  
  
"Shinji Ikari."  
  
- - - -  
  
  
  
"Is something troubling you, Shinji?"  
  
"Nothing, Yui."  
  
The young man lay submerged in a tank of LCL in the small armored command   
  
center in the middle of his ship. A half dozen high-capacity leads connected to   
  
his skull sockets feeding data directly into his brain and crystal. While the   
  
connections allowed instantaneous communication with the ship and its AI it also   
  
allowed reverse connectivity. It literally allowed Yui into his head, and she   
  
had found the hobby of analyzing him when she wasn't carrying out his commands   
  
or keeping the ship running. And Shinji knew that she wasn't about to accept his   
  
explanation when she could analyze his body chemistry in a nanosecond. A mental   
  
command turned everything except sensors over to his crystal so he could   
  
concentrate.  
  
"I was just wondering if I was ever like those girls?"  
  
"Not likely." The AI chuckled. "You're a male and they are females. I hope   
  
you'd be old enough to know the differences."  
  
"Funny. Remind me to wipe your personality programming when we get   
  
back." Shinji frowned. "Seriously, I was just trying to remember a time I   
  
was..."  
  
"Young?"  
  
"Innocent," he finished ignoring her answer.  
  
Whatever comeback the AI was going to fire back died an electronic death as   
  
Shinji's virtual mind turned red. In an instant, the command center disappeared   
  
from his vision replaced with a variety of displays informing him of the alert.   
  
A mental hand arranged the displays and enlarged the sole screen containing   
  
crucial data. He had been wondering how long it would take the other bounty   
  
hunters to find out who had gotten to the twins first and follow. They had been   
  
cruising in the Epsilon-band of hyperspace for six hours out of a twenty-four   
  
hour transit, which wasn't a big enough lead as ships surrounded them.  
  
"Warm up hyper-generators three and four. Ignite engines five and six in   
  
one-hundred twenty seconds."   
  
"Receiving transmission to drop out of hyperspace and surrender the   
  
twins," Yui reported. "Ignoring request and commencing jamming.  
  
Shinji grunted, not surprised. "Prepare drone for gate control. Tell them   
  
we're amending our flight plan and request clearance to the Eta-band."  
  
On his screens, a green Vee arrowed away from his ship and disappeared a   
  
second later as it climbed to the Lambda-band. An instant after that his ship   
  
was rocked by raking shot from one of the pursuing ships, which was soon   
  
followed by a salvo of missiles. Shinji narrowed his eyes not liking what he saw   
  
and how fast the situation was going out of control. But he made up his mind that  
  
if they wanted a fight he'd give it to them without any mercy.  
  
Defense fields flared and coalesced to intercept the missiles while along the   
  
flanks of the bulk freighter ports flew open to reveal point defenses and   
  
secondary weapons. At the aft of the ship, bulkheads turned to plasma when the   
  
final and largest engines ignited adding their thrust to the other four. And the   
  
ship continued transforming as sections on all quarters split off from the main   
  
structure on pylons. By the time the other hunter ships recognized what was   
  
happening their prey had swung about, reversing course in the blink of an eye.  
  
And then all hell broke lose as every ship attacked, but the advantage lay   
  
with Shinji. He knew they couldn't afford to destroy his ship no matter because   
  
they needed twins. His attack pattern reflected that knowledge as he used his   
  
rail guns to disable long range targets before closing and destroying them with   
  
lasers. All the while fireballs detonated around his cruiser as missiles were   
  
either intercepted or impacted with explosive fury. With each successful enemy   
  
hit on his ship, the battle shifted minutely but swung back to a victory on his  
  
part with each destroyed attacker. Yet Shinji's blood turned to ice as a   
  
behemoth dropped on top of him and unleashed a massive barrage.  
  
"Shit."  
  
- - - -  
  
  
  
The rain was welcome to the solitary figure walking down the streets but a   
  
nuisance to everyone else. Shinji Ikari wasn't exactly in a foul mood but he   
  
wasn't going to win any awards for being jolly. The cost of repairs to his   
  
cruiser and ordnance replacement had caused the accounting office and repair   
  
yard foreman to chew him out. It didn't matter that he had been outnumbered   
  
fifteen to one before the other cruiser had intercepted him, and causing the   
  
most damage. And never mind that the bounty on the Sakyo twins would cover   
  
everything and then some for the next couple months. So it had been with   
  
contentment that he had departed the shipyard and returned to the Earth's   
  
surface with its rain.  
  
He absently kicked a can lying in front of him and studied the neighborhood   
  
around him with a detached eye. It had been two months since he had departed on   
  
the mission to retrieve the twins and things had degenerated. Not that anyone in   
  
the government was going to do anything since they had more important things to   
  
take care; i.e. their rich contributors. He did what he could whenever he had   
  
money leftover from his jobs, but it was never enough. Yet despite the conditions  
  
he chose to live in it was the only place he could really call home.  
  
"You want some nice company tonight?"  
  
Shinji slowly exhaled and turned to spy a couple girls standing under the   
  
protection of a leafy tree. His implant, the best on any market, chirped in his   
  
ear and projected the information on his retinas about what it had gathered, and   
  
he sighed again. The companies responsible for the age cure hadn't stopped   
  
research with that one controversial genetic discovery. Cloning had been   
  
perfected long ago and the process of transferring one's mind into a new body   
  
had soon followed. Which that meant anyone could be any age or gender as long as   
  
they reported it to the government.  
  
So it was with a hint of disgust that he shook his head at the girls and   
  
walked across the street to his apartment when the light changed. And overrode   
  
his hardwired defenses just in time to have his breath knocked out of him by a   
  
blur topped with brown. As he took deep breaths he became aware of the blur   
  
embracing him tightly while crying and mumbling. When he finally regained   
  
control, he looked down at the person who just reached his shoulders and saw   
  
bright brown eyes studying him. Giving the girl a smile, he wrapped an arm   
  
around her shoulders and led her to his occupancy.   
  
- - - -  
  
Shinji slowly stirred the tea on the counter, his eyes distant, as he forced   
  
himself to adapt to the new situation. He knew he should've been prepared for a   
  
visit from Kaname, but he'd been hoping for day or two to recover from   
  
everything. Of course, the two duffel bags she had brought in before hitting the   
  
shower hinted at something bigger for the pair. Not wanting to deal with it, he  
  
had allowed her to head for the shower while he went to the kitchen. Except for   
  
his constant stirring his tea had been forgotten, unable to provide a large   
  
enough distraction. The sound of the bathroom opening followed by the sound of   
  
her feet heading toward him caused him to look up when she appeared in the   
  
doorway.  
  
She was nude as usual the remnants of the shower glistening on her skin and   
  
hair like miniature diamonds. While she wouldn't be drop-dead gorgeous, her   
  
upbringing had seen to that, Kananme was still cute. And in the midst of   
  
changing from child to adult, something she took great pains in reminding him   
  
about. Not that he needed the reminders anymore as he slowly let his eyes trace   
  
over her body. At first, he had been shocked at her behavior when they were   
  
alone in his apartment, which was ironic considering the places he'd been. But   
  
she had become a nice constant in his life, someone who'd be there for him and   
  
wouldn't judge until hearing everything that he said.  
  
"I've missed you," she whispered, her small bare breasts pressed against his   
  
chest.   
  
He hugged her tightly, finally relaxing. "I missed you too."  
  
"Where were you, Shinji?" Tears started welling up in her eyes.   
  
"My job."  
  
"Bullshit. A job doesn't take over two months to complete." She tried frowning  
  
but it came out as a pout. "And what kind of job has a student missing so much   
  
class?"  
  
"Mine does." He stroked her back feeling her tremble. "What happened?"  
  
"Papa's been unemployed for over a month."  
  
That statement was all the explanation Shinji needed and it made him sick to   
  
his stomach. It didn't surprise him that her father had been fired, after all   
  
people were hired or laid off daily and sometimes hourly. What did shock him was   
  
that the man hadn't found a job in so long and the repercussions it would have   
  
on his family, especially Kaname. Unemployment compensation was nonexistent in   
  
the world as someone was always hiring, or that was the view the central   
  
government told everyone. With that lack of governmental oversight people had   
  
turned to an ancient tradition to pay debts.  
  
With her age, build, and looks Kaname would've fetched a good price from a   
  
decent brothel and its clients. The business would've given an advance along   
  
with a quarterly percentage of her earnings until she turned twenty-five, her   
  
majority. Her family, especially her mother, would fret over whether such an   
  
indenture was necessary but it would only last until the first creditor came   
  
knocking. And Shinji was the only place she would've been able to find refuge   
  
with and he had been gone at her time of need.  
  
"Have you eaten anything lately?" He asked as he left the kitchen for his   
  
living room/office.  
  
She followed on his heels and sat in an unoccupied chair. "I used the last of   
  
my cash yesterday."  
  
"What about school?" He waited for his computer to boot and connect to the   
  
network.  
  
"They were the first ones calling for their money." The brunette grabbed the   
  
remote and started channel surfing. "Papa said he'd make it up to me later,   
  
but..." She flipped the remote off and walked to where Shinji sat, wrapping her   
  
arms around him. "So can I stay?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Kaname started crying again. "Thank you, thank you so much. I'll never forget   
  
this."  
  
- - - -  
  
In a society where bodies could be swapped schools were the only public place   
  
where everyone was who they said they were and the proper age. The education   
  
institutions were allowed to try a variety of styles in teaching as long as they   
  
turned out well-educated citizens. On one extreme, some administrators followed   
  
a strict regime with rules, uniforms and standardized tests. The other side of   
  
the coin was more relaxed in their methods and allowed their students more   
  
freedom inside and outside class to experiment. Of course, there were some   
  
schools that tried to follow the middle path of some rules coupled with academic   
  
freedom, but they ultimately failed and changed to one of the other models.  
  
The school Shinji attended and the one he had enrolled Kaname in was one   
  
based on freedom for the students. He had found it ideally suited for his job   
  
and its demands, as it didn't ask any annoying questions like his past one. Of   
  
course, there were times that its laid back attitude toughened and demanded that   
  
classes couldn't progress until all had attended specific courses. His frequent   
  
absences hadn't endeared him to some of the students, but after the first   
  
confrontation he was left alone. Though he was popular among others who liked   
  
spending more time getting their hands dirty instead of sitting in a class, like   
  
the girl before him.  
  
Rebecca was the class representative and totally reflected the nature of his   
  
school while being an enigma to him. Her punked out look was a total contrast to   
  
someone who was a nerd when anything involved molecular engineering. The first   
  
time he had met her he had been surprised with the intricacy of her sub-dermal   
  
implants that she had made at home. A beautiful design of subtle color shifting   
  
and flow with faint light traces had been purposely done to draw his attention   
  
to her womanly assets. Her choice of revealing attire had also been used to   
  
compliment her implants to maximum effect. He didn't even remember the events   
  
that lead up to them ending up in bed and exchanging secrets besides other   
  
things.  
  
But at the immediate time, the memory of his first sexual encounter was the   
  
last thing he needed. Her newly redesigned implants were flashing red and   
  
flowing from her torso to her extremities. She was pissed, or was rapidly   
  
approaching that critical point with him while they conversed during lunch. Yet   
  
suddenly the display disappeared replaced with a sigh and shake of the head from   
  
the slender girl with emerald hair and eyes. Shinji felt uncomfortable as she   
  
studied him with pity usually shown to a mental case. He didn't even react when   
  
she flicked his forehead with a manicured finger since she did it so quickly.  
  
"Yep," she said in her best scientist voice. "You're as dense as lead, or   
  
maybe a pulsar would be closer."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about!" He lowered his voice as a couple   
  
students turned toward them. "Rebecca you're not making any sense."  
  
"You can't be that naive, can you?" Her sub-dermals flashed on again arrowing   
  
toward her breasts. "I was more subtle than that little girl in taking months to   
  
spin my web around you, but we both want the same thing." She grabbed his collar   
  
pulling him closer so she could whisper in his ear. "To fuck you and be fucked   
  
in return."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"You're cute when you blush like that. Don't tell me..."  
  
Shinji shook his head. "No, I knew that was what she wanted the first time she   
  
spent the night."  
  
"So." She arched an eyebrow. "Why haven't you? You weren't exactly shy after   
  
the first couple times."  
  
"I loved you, and I still do." It was the girl's turn to blush at the comment.   
  
"Love died out centuries ago, Shinji. Why do you think all marriages end when   
  
children reach their majority? It's because they're done passing on their genes   
  
as abiding adults should and its time to get a new body and partner. You couldn't   
  
have..." She trailed off when he gripped her hand gently.  
  
"I loved you." He repeated staring into her eyes. "And I love Kaname."  
  
Silence stretched awkwardly before the class representative laughed and wiped   
  
at her eyes. Both knew that what she had said was true, but she also knew Shinji   
  
meant what he had said. She had had many lovers of both sexes but few had ever   
  
said those words to her. It warmed her heart to hear those words spoken   
  
truthfully and outside a bedroom.  
  
"That's good. I was beginning to worry if you just had a Lolita complex for   
  
her." Rebecca wouldn't meet his eyes still mulling over his admission. "But that   
  
still doesn't…"   
  
  
  
Shinji smiled sadly. "I love her, but like a sister."  
  
"She isn't and if what you told me of her she's nearing the edge. Show her   
  
all your love and take her without remorse. Maybe she'll wake up from her dream   
  
and see everything clearly instead of in a cloud." The bell rang signaling the   
  
end of their break and they both stood. She didn't release his hand as they stood   
  
but finally had to let go as their classes were in different room. Before he got   
  
too far she pulled him into a tender kiss that got catcalls from the spectators.   
  
"Good luck"   
  
- - - -  
  
Fate, like some many times in life, had decided to take a cruel unwanted   
  
interest in the young couple that night. Everything had progressed with little   
  
awkwardness as Kaname had immediately deciphered his stumbling speech through   
  
dinner. It had all gone straight to hell once they had moved to the next stage   
  
and was still spiraling downward. Kaname had surely been pulled into reality when   
  
he had taken her maidenhood and had been in pain throughout the experience,   
  
though she wouldn't let him stop. He had left the small brunette taking a hot   
  
bath while he stepped outside to call Rebecca for advice. The last thing he   
  
remembered as he dialed was the cool press of metal against his neck and hearing   
  
this hiss of an injector before everything went black.  
  
And as he sat in an uncomfortable chair with his limbs manacled behind his   
  
back all he could hope was that Kaname was safe. He knew he had made a great deal   
  
of enemies over the last six years in the Hunter's Guild, amongst the independent   
  
contractors, and from corporations involved in illegal trade. Of course, most the   
  
people after him were relatives of those he had carried a contract out on, or   
  
hunters who tried to jump him. Because of his age and inexperience at the   
  
beginning he had chosen to do things at long range or cybernetically, further   
  
dishonoring himself in the eyes of clans. But he didn't care about that or what   
  
could happen to himself at the hands of his captors as long as Kaname, Rebecca,   
  
and his co-workers were safe.  
  
He looked up with clear eyes, having spent the time spotting the defenses of   
  
the room, and looked at the opening door. His blood ran cold before turning   
  
molten at the man and his companions who entered the room and sat at the   
  
conference table. The last person he had ever wanted to see again in his life sat   
  
within reach of his hands and he couldn't do anything. He strained against his   
  
restraints hoping to somehow break free, and received a shock when he reached a   
  
certain pressure. All this caused his sworn enemy to smirk at the futile efforts   
  
of his captive, and quiet cough to emanate from the others.  
  
Shinji swore and then did the last thing any of the people expected of him; he   
  
smiled. Ten years ago, his father had abandoned him and he had promised that he   
  
would never seek him out or make contact. That the cold-hearted, bearded bastard   
  
had kidnapped him right outside his apartment was the last thing he had expected.   
  
But it shouldn't have really surprised him since it fit with how Gendo ran NERV   
  
and its subsidiaries. Yet at the same time he was smiling and remembering his   
  
father, he put all his senses on alert for any other surprises.  
  
"What did you do with Kaname?"  
  
"Your fuck toy is fine," answered a blonde woman with a smirk.  
  
Shinji eyes narrowed, having seen her kind before. "You'd know everything   
  
about being a fuck toy, wouldn't you." He smiled when she flinched at his   
  
words. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I touch a nerve?"   
  
"Ritsuko! Shinji! Behave and keep your comments to yourselves!" barked the   
  
eldest gentleman in the room. "This isn't a bar, or even a schoolyard to throw   
  
taunts at one other."  
  
"Fuyutsuki, that isn't..."  
  
"Doctor Akagi, please control your emotions and be quiet," Gendo said. He   
  
simply stared when she opened her mouth to speak before shutting it with a   
  
snap. "Your friend is safe in your apartment and is ignorant of these   
  
proceedings. And your profession." He took off his glasses and briefly polished   
  
them. "How long her ignorance remains is dependent on you."  
  
"Using her to get at me is unprofessional!" snapped Shinji.  
  
"You wouldn't listen if I threatened you," answered his father. A display   
  
opened in front of the man and slowly scrolled through several forms. "You are   
  
an independent contractor, quite a successful one for someone only twenty years   
  
old and having morals. I have a job for you and am willing to compensate in an   
  
appropriate manner."  
  
The compensation package that was scrolling before Shinji was one he wasn't   
  
expecting from his father and it hinted at the difficulty of the job. Basically,   
  
Gendo was offering Kaname's father an actual contract for five years of   
  
employment with an option for a three extension. Not only that he'd receive full   
  
benefits for him and his family without having a probation period in NERV's   
  
employ. Kaname and her sibling's primary education would be fully paid for in   
  
full at an accomplished school. The only requirements for her father was that he   
  
had to keep a clean work and public record, and that he couldn't disclose the   
  
details of the contract to anyone. Shinji looked up when the information started   
  
looping again and studied his father's face and those around him looking for any   
  
duplicity but found none.  
  
"Just this one job?"  
  
"For the moment." His father smirked. "Others may come up where I require your   
  
services. Consider yourself a black employee of NERV from this day forward."  
  
The teen groaned. "You knew I was going to accept."  
  
"Your friends are your weakness."  
  
- - - -  
  
"You don't like your father?"  
  
The introduction of speech into the armored air-car, which had been eerily   
  
silent after he had met his handler, grated on Shinji's taunt nerves. He felt an   
  
itch in his skull and suppressed it before his crystal could switch to low-light   
  
amplification. The need to see the woman sitting beside him was unnecessary   
  
because he had committed everything to memory, both biological and virtual. Her   
  
file had been quite extensive while conspicuously hiding important details that   
  
he might need.   
  
Misato Katsuragi a woman in her mid-forties, with the body of a   
  
twenty-something, was a captain in his father's security forces. She had served   
  
fifteen years with the Colonial Marine Corps suppressing revolutions on planets   
  
chafing under Federation laws. But five years ago the Corps had terminated her   
  
contract along with her whole unit, giving all of them general discharges in the   
  
process. The various news organizations had tried unsuccessfully to investigate   
  
why a whole company of special operations soldiers would be retired. But none of   
  
that really mattered to him, as he was more interested in what she had been doing   
  
for his father since her hiring by NERV.  
  
"What gave you that idea?"  
  
She chuckled. "Everything since I laid eyes on you. Don't worry you're among   
  
company in that department. I absolutely hated my father for so long after he   
  
left my mother."  
  
"That's not the same thing," he growled. "You at least had your mother to fall   
  
back on while I had no one there when my father abandoned. Three years of living   
  
on my own with just the money my mother had left for me before becoming what I   
  
am."  
  
"You had her business division to support you."   
  
His laugh was bitter and Misato knew her own files on the young man were   
  
wrong, or at least portions of them. Yui Ikari had left her son the division of   
  
NERV that she had built up over three decades before her accident. That he would   
  
never receive the profits off its business transactions troubled her, though it   
  
constantly happened in life. But she was also astute enough to know that seeing   
  
his father wasn't what was truly troubling the young man, and she sympathized   
  
with him. She remembered being his age once and everything that she had done   
  
during that time, things her mom had never learned about.  
  
"If you're so worried why don't you call her." She grinned when he   
  
stiffened. "I was your age once and had a significant other, so don't bother   
  
asking how I knew."  
  
"And what am I supposed to tell Kaname?"  
  
"How about the truth?"  
  
Shinji clenched his jaw to keep his sarcastic comment from leaving the tip of   
  
his tongue. He briefly wondered what made people momentarily lose their common   
  
sense and spout out nonsense at crucial times. For two years he had spun an   
  
elaborate web of lies and half-truths around Kaname concerning what he did for a   
  
job. Any wounds he had received were treated before Kaname saw him again, even   
  
if it had delayed him. The clothes he had in his apartment never left Earth's   
  
atmosphere so they would never pick up any exotic scents from offworld. He had   
  
purposely kept his job and what he did for it vague, or never replied to her   
  
inquiries. And now this woman he had just met was telling him to destroy all of   
  
that and everything else without knowing the girl she was talking about. So as   
  
he picked up the carphone he was already forming his conversation around what   
  
Kaname would want to know.   
  
"Where are you!" she cried when she answered.  
  
"I didn't mean to abruptly leave you," he reassured her. "My father wanted to   
  
see me and he kidnapped me." Shinji wanted to smile at Misato's reaction but   
  
couldn't. "He was quite adamant about seeing me immediately and he doesn't take   
  
'no' for an answer."   
  
"What! I'll call the police."  
  
"Don't bother. Listen carefully, Kaname." He reached out and touched the   
  
screen. "I have to leave again, and I feel like asshole for that. But my father   
  
has something for me to do and I had no choice in accepting it."   
  
She followed his action on her screen. "How long will you be gone?"  
  
"I truly don't know," he answered quietly. "Anyway, you can continue staying   
  
at my apartment. The rent's been prepaid for the next year and there is a weekly   
  
grocery delivery for the same time. I also want you to keep going to school   
  
since tuition has been covered for two years, and tell Rebecca why I'm not   
  
there." He glanced at Misato who barely shook her head. "I've got to let you go   
  
now.  
  
"I'll wait for you!" Tears were streaming down her young face. "I love you!"  
  
"You didn't tell her that you loved her," Misato commented when the screen   
  
went dead.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
- - - -  
  
The guard's head snapped to the side, a dart's fin protruding just below the   
  
rim of his helmet, before he slid down the wall. His compatriot quickly joined   
  
him and a shadow dropped into the dimly corridor from a ceiling maintenance   
  
hatch. On silent feet it sprinted to their positions and easily pulled them into   
  
a storage unit, its door sliding open at his approach. Dropping the guards in   
  
the farthest corner, the man rifled their pockets and snagged extra magazines   
  
for his own rifle. Once done with its task the figure attached two projector   
  
units to the corpses and activated them.  
  
Shinji poked his head back into the corridor and scanned the passageways for   
  
any roving patrols and double-checked that the hatch he had closed. Once he   
  
assured himself that no one had seen his entrance, he stepped into the hall   
  
throwing one last glance at the guards that now looked like spare parts bins. As   
  
the door hissed behind him, his own clothing shimmered becoming an exact   
  
duplicate of the infiltrated company's guards. Fastening a helmet to his head, he   
  
pulled down the clear protective visor and activated the map uploaded into his   
  
crystal.   
  
He had done a few infiltration operations over the years and had never last   
  
his hate of them. Despite all the technology he carried during such missions too   
  
many things could go awry. They had required him to actually come with reach of   
  
an enemies personnel and whatever weaponry they carried while constraining his   
  
freedom of movement. It had felt like that he had aged five years each time he   
  
finished such an operation and it was because of all the danger and stress that   
  
his fee tripled. And as he trotted down the metal corridor he knew his father   
  
must have somehow learned that fact of his son.  
  
It was the only explanation for the massive compensation package offered for   
  
his services, and if he had known what he was getting into he'd have rejected it.   
  
Of course, he should've had an inkling of what his father was going to ask of him   
  
and had no one else to blame. Operation Sachiel, he'd kill whoever had come with   
  
that name, was a massive undertaking on NERV's part as well as his own. That   
  
didn't mean he had any back up or that there were other operatives acting in   
  
concert with him. No, he was to infiltrate a company that had beat NERV in   
  
bidding for a military contract and steal their plans and prototype fighter. Not   
  
only that but he had to rescue the first operative sent in and been caught by the   
  
security forces.   
  
Punching an armored fist through the emergency panel, he grabbed the release   
  
lever and yanked on it. The computer-room's blastdoors hissed and cracked inches   
  
apart before stopping. Cursing, he pulled out two miniature actuators and placed   
  
them at the top and bottom of the doors and activated them. Grunting he lent his   
  
strength to the rods and finally pried the doors open far enough to squeeze   
  
through. Grabbing his machines, he placed them on the armored panels and reversed   
  
their direction, watching as the doors sealed themselves. Turning, he was   
  
reaching into his rucksack for the computer only to whip up his rifle.  
  
"Who the hell are..." His words died when the figure at the mainframe's   
  
control panel turned around.  
  
Rei Ayanami, even in a society of biosculpting and gene manipulating, would   
  
stand out in a crowd with her crimson eyes and cobalt hair. Not only that but all   
  
her proportions and curves were too perfect to be natural in his mind. Her   
  
emotionless gaze gave him a feeling that he hadn't felt since he'd met his first   
  
contractor, deciding whether he was worth her time. But that feeling passed as   
  
she silently turned back to her duties in cracking the mainframe security.   
  
Shrugging his shoulders, he walked up to her and sat in the chair adjoining her   
  
own, and shivered.   
  
It felt and smelt like he had just walked into a freezer stocked with medical   
  
supplies with malfunctioning seals. Suppressing the urge to put some distance   
  
between Rei and himself, he attached his computer to the port and turned to her.   
  
His eyes widened when he noticed her flesh subtly pulsing and he found that he   
  
could clearly see every vein through her skin. His own flesh crawled when she   
  
again studied him with eyes that were too emotionless.  
  
"I was an experiment," she preempted him.  
  
"By my father?" He prayed that wasn't true, not wanting to believe his father   
  
would sink that low.  
  
Rei shook her head. "Naoko Akagi, Doctor Akagi's mother."  
  
"Oh." Silence reined, but then Shinji soon spoke. "I'm sorry." He was   
  
surprised when he saw the first signs of emotion in her eyes, even if it was   
  
puzzlement. "For staring at you earlier."  
  
"It was understandable. Most people find my presence disturbing." She frowned.   
  
"But I should be the one apologizing and not you, Ikari. It was my remotes that   
  
caused the blackout and general alarm when they sensed your approach."  
  
"But I thought..."  
  
He barely had time to notice the girl tilting her head to one side before she   
  
grabbed his wrist in an iron hold and pulled. As the pair flew from their seats,   
  
Shinji had enough wits to grab the mini-computer that was flashing its job was   
  
complete. The blastdoors blew apart in a fury of smoke and flame just as they   
  
impacted with the floor and rolled to their knees. Shinji's hardwired reflexes   
  
had his rifle up to his shoulder in a blink of an eye and firing short bursts   
  
just as the first soldiers rushed in. Combatants dropped yet more rushed to fill   
  
in the space left by their fallen comrades but Shinji never stopped. As he   
  
ejected his third magazine and inserted his fourth a blur shot from his side   
  
when Rei switched weapons. The concussion was deafening but the young man   
  
quickly got to his feet pulling Rei to her own and charging through the confused   
  
mess.   
  
The breaching charge had detonated waist high its plasma jet cutting through   
  
armored and unarmored troopers with easy. Screams came from those caught at the   
  
edge of the super-heated stream, their armor melted around them. But Shinji   
  
didn't hear a thing except for the blood pulsing in his ears as he dragged Rei   
  
at breakneck speed toward the hangars. All the while he cursed himself, his   
  
father, Misato, and even the young woman at his side for what was happening.   
  
He skidded to a stop two levels from the hangar and slid the card provided to   
  
him through a reader and punched in some numbers before pulling a lever.   
  
Immediately red warning lights flashed along the length of the passageway and a   
  
siren sounded, but Shinji was already racing away. His ears told him what was   
  
happening behind him and he smiled cruelly as blastdoors snapped at his heels   
  
sealing off that section. He knew that the few lines of code he had added to a   
  
security protocol during his ingress would be would be copying his recent action.   
  
Whole sections of the station would be exposed to vacuum and sealed off allowing   
  
him to gain unopposed access to his target.  
  
- - - -  
  
"You said that you were an experiment."  
  
It had been over a day since they had stolen the fighter and escaped his   
  
father's competitor's complex. He had boosted at full speed in the opposite   
  
direction of the hyperspace gate that serviced the binary system. For four   
  
hours, he had slowly reduced his thrust thus effecting the ion trail the craft   
  
left until finally shutting the propulsion system down. Without the main engines,   
  
he had used the craft's attitude thrusters to put them on a ballistic course   
  
perpendicular to the ecliptic, and fallen asleep. Now after having rested for ten   
  
hours and with the fighter six light-hours from the primary he found himself   
  
wanting someone to talk to.   
  
"Correct," Rei answered.  
  
Shinji wasn't even sure if she had slept but she didn't sound tired. "To be   
  
the perfect human, or something like that?"  
  
"I am not completely human. And yes I was created to be a perfect being." She   
  
paused and when she spoke next he heard a slight waver in her voice. "The science   
  
was imperfect and I turned out...flawed."  
  
With all the technology available anyone or anything that could gather the   
  
necessary funding and materials could play God. As usual the military had been   
  
the first group to try and create the perfect soldier, but they had abandoned   
  
their experiments. Mass produced soldiers with exceptional physical attributes   
  
had been a nice benefit for the generals except for one fault. Having the ability   
  
to fight continuously for hours or days without rest was worthless if they   
  
couldn't adapt to the ever-changing battlefields. Basically the soldiers had   
  
turned out to be drones only able to fight with limited basic orders while   
  
anything complex confused them. So the military had abandoned their attempts   
  
while private businesses continued to work out the flaws of the military model.  
  
"So what went wrong? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He   
  
blurted out the last part, not sure if she'd take it the wrong way.  
  
"I do not mind." He could hear Rei shifting around behind him. "I was to be   
  
an ultimate spy able to walk past sensors with immunity. Also I was to be able   
  
to interface with a large library of technology with a touch of my finger. My   
  
skills base would take a normal person two hundred years to learn and master."   
  
Again he heard her moving around in the copilot's station. "But things did not   
  
go as planned."  
  
"So what went wrong?"  
  
"The nano-machines necessary to suppress my bio-signatures suffered a   
  
catastrophic programming failure. As you have found out my body is colder than a   
  
normal human being's. Also the ability to bend light and blend in with my   
  
surroundings caused my flesh to become almost translucent." This time he heard a   
  
hitch in her voice and wondered how much telling him was hurting her. "The   
  
liquid crystal necessary to carry out my duties was experimental, and they had   
  
to reroute certain areas of my brain."   
  
He felt like shit for asking. "I'm sorry."  
  
"You had no involvement with my creation or any the scientific failures   
  
imposed on me so there is no need for you to apologize."  
  
Shinji closed his eyes and wished that Yui or even Rebecca were here to   
  
explain to Rei why he was sorry. It wasn't because he felt responsible for the   
  
actions of Naoko Akagi, or even his father in keeping the blue-haired girl in   
  
his employ. He was sorry that she had been unable to be a normal person with a   
  
semi-reasonable upbringing instead of being an experiment. He had meant for his   
  
apology to convey his regret into prying into her private life without having an   
  
inkling of the pain he had caused. But he wondered what had been rerouted or   
  
even deleted in her mind at her inability to recognize those parts of his   
  
apology.   
  
"It's just that..."  
  
What he was going to try and explain died when a pseudo-motion directly in   
  
front of the fighter diverted his attention. He grinned when the detection   
  
systems gave the electronic equivalent of a human scream as a communication   
  
laser painted them. With a mental command, he silenced the warning sub-systems   
  
and fired up the communications, dialing in the proper frequency and scramble   
  
codes. The tension he had been unaware of carrying for the duration of the   
  
mission flowed out him and he sank into his seat. His hand shook and he finally   
  
switched everything over to his own crystal and let his body go through all the   
  
motions.  
  
"That is our transport."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
'Is everything okay, Shinji?'  
  
'Everything's fine.' In the back of his mind he really wondered if things   
  
were as good as he thought.  
  
'Everything is fine, Yui.'  
  
- - - -  
  
The ease with how he had escaped with the fighter, its plans, and rescued Rei   
  
should've been enough warning to Shinji. He knew he should've known that things   
  
rarely went the way they did when it involved unknown factors. There had been no   
  
clues that his life was anything but what it had been when he had left on the   
  
mission. That illusion had lasted through reentry, customs, the ten-minute   
  
high-speed trip to land, and his car ride to his apartment. It had finally   
  
evaporated when he had walked through his door to be confronted with a dark cold   
  
apartment and no Kaname to be found. He should've realized that his father   
  
would've found a way to twist the knife in his back planted there years ago.  
  
Smoke jetted from his mouth only to be sucked up by the air scrubbers while he   
  
absently lifted the cigarette dangling from his fingers. He had access to a   
  
hundred drugs, electronic entertainment, and a variety of other sources to forget   
  
the pain but none appealed to him. Over the years, he had started and stopped   
  
smoking depending on his emotional state at the time and found it suited him   
  
perfectly. And he had gone through two packs since resigning himself to the fact   
  
that Kaname was gone and his father was behind her disappearance. He wearily   
  
lifted his head when his front door hissed open and didn't have the strength to   
  
be surprised anymore.  
  
Even with the lack of flashy sub-dermals and blonde hair, he knew it was her   
  
real color, Rebecca would've been known to him in an instant. She had a way about   
  
her that announced her presence to him, and besides she was the only one he'd   
  
given access codes to. Her emerald eyes were sad like the time she had told him   
  
she was ending their relationship. The silk evening dress, something he had never   
  
seen her in, shimmered when she walked over to him. She reached down and plucked   
  
the cigarette from his lips, crushing it before reaching for his remaining stash.  
  
Once she was done with that, she yanked him from the couch and pushed him to the   
  
bathroom.  
  
"What are you doing?" He asked as she quickly and efficiently stripped him.  
  
Her small nose wrinkled. "God, do you know how much you stink when you smoke.   
  
I don't understand why since smoking lost it's coolness centuries ago."   
  
Her garments quickly joined his on the floor and the couple was soon embraced   
  
by warm water. Shinji stood there mutely letting the liquid flow over his flesh   
  
before relaxing under Rebecca's gentle touch. He had always been amazed at how  
  
expertly she knew where and how much pressure to apply to turn him into putty.   
  
Not that was the only weapon in her arsenal that she was using on him at the   
  
moment. The way his body was reacting to her own body, he knew she must have   
  
been pumping out pheromones like crazy. He gently gripped her wrist when she   
  
went south on his body, reaching for his hardness.  
  
"I don't need a mercy fuck," he protested weakly.  
  
Rebecca slowly slid around until she stood in front of Shinji studying his   
  
face. Three years of being lovers with him had given her an insight into how the   
  
man functioned, and not only in bed. He had had an air of forlornness about him   
  
that had drawn her, and she admitted she had felt sorry for him. But she had   
  
found a more complex person underneath all the pain and defenses. And despite   
  
his words, she knew the last thing she could do would to leave him alone to   
  
wallow in misery. What people needed in times of pain wasn't to be left alone   
  
but other people who cared about them. It was with that thought that she brought   
  
his hand up to her left breast and grinned at his response.  
  
"Mercy wasn't what I had in mind."  
  
- - - -  
  
Her words had been very prophetic Shinji mused as he rested in his bed with   
  
the sun creeping toward his face. Their lovemaking had been the roughest,   
  
kinkiest sex they had ever participated in and had lasted the entire night and   
  
into the early morning. Still joined together, neither didn't intend to separate   
  
nor leave the warm comfort of the other's flesh. He reached up and stroked her   
  
golden silky hair getting the pretty young woman to smile, and shift on top of   
  
him.  
  
"I can't remember why I let you get away," she purred feeling him reawakening   
  
inside her.  
  
"Because you didn't want to wake up one day and find out that I was dead," her   
  
told her. It was like a bucket of cold water thrown on the couple.  
  
"Now I remember." She rested her head on his chest and listened to his   
  
heartbeat. "It was the first time I had ever felt like that and it scared me.   
  
You were my longest lover back then despite all my one-night stands and I didn't   
  
want to lose you." Tears dripped onto his flesh. "I guess I really do love you,   
  
Shinji."  
  
"And I love you." He gently coaxed her head up. "Did Kaname send you?"  
  
That thought had been stuck in his head since the blonde had walked into his   
  
apartment the night before. He had briefly wondered how she had shown up at the   
  
exact time when he had needed someone there for him. Shinji wasn't ungrateful   
  
for the sex since it had allowed him to forget his pain and concentrate on   
  
loving another person. But it saddened him that he had turned toward Rebecca yet   
  
he had known things were over between Kaname and him. With their carnal appetites   
  
sated and all the pain smothered with Rebecca's love he could focus on that   
  
thought.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I see." Shinji's eyes went distant. "Did she say anything?"  
  
Rebecca rolled off of him, propping herself up on an elbow. "Just that she was   
  
sorry she was leaving. Her father got hired by NERV and they had to move."  
  
"The bastard won again. He found another dagger to plunge into my back," he   
  
muttered.   
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"My father is responsible for Kaname's moving. And so am I."  
  
Before she could ask, he told her about his kidnapping by his father's   
  
security forces the week before. He explained how his father had used his   
  
relationship with Kaname to force his hand. Shinji spoke of the contract offered   
  
to Kaname's father upon his completion of the mission. And all the while he was   
  
explaining his voice was flat sounding almost mechanical in his explanation of   
  
events. The only time it changed was when Rebecca kissed him deeply and that was   
  
only at the end.  
  
"Somehow she learned of what I did."  
  
Rebecca stood and stretched, letting the sun play over her nude body. "Why do   
  
you think that?"  
  
"Because she didn't leave a message."  
  
"I was her message," replied the blonde.  
  
"That's not..."  
  
She planted her fists in the mattress and leaned over. "Listen Shinji. Did it   
  
ever occur to you that the reason she didn't leave a message was because she was   
  
hurting? That leaving and not being able to say good-bye face to face was too   
  
much for her."  
  
"I didn't..."   
  
"No, you didn't think!" This time she sat down next to him. "Don't go around   
  
blaming your father, or even yourself for what happened. Instead remember the   
  
times you had with Kaname and don't forget them." Tears were streaming down her   
  
delicate face. "Just like I'll never forget our time together."  
  
"What are you talking about!" He reached out to her and was rebuffed.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me you were transferring to Mars?"  
  
- - - -  
  
Misato Katsuragi none too happily cruised the Isidis Planita spaceport's   
  
concourse looking for Shinji Ikari, who was to become her charge. Just as she was   
  
about to give up and page him, she turned a corner and found him perched atop a   
  
bench looking in her direction. Her smile turned into a frown as she approached   
  
his position. She had found his disposition to be chilly when she had first met   
  
him, but she had placed that at his father's feet. Yet what she saw signaled a   
  
change from cool to absolute frigid something she had hoped to avoid.  
  
His black suit had been exquisitely tailored and armored, only a trained eye   
  
could spot the extra sharp creases and metallic sheen to the cloth. The mirrored   
  
shades he was wearing reflected her image and gave her no insight into what he   
  
was thinking. Black and gold ribbons had been interwoven into his carefully   
  
braided ponytail. The flesh-toned sockets he had worn before were replaced with   
  
polished titanium, and was getting stares from of the passerbys. Everything   
  
about him was to show her his displeasure at being ordered about by people he   
  
had never cared about.  
  
"I had nothing to do with this so drop the attitude," she ordered.  
  
"I think I have a right to be pissed," he countered taking off his   
  
glasses. "Twelve hours ago, I was in the arms of a woman who loved me learning   
  
that I was transferring to Mars. A transfer I never knew about or was even   
  
informed about, though I was at NERV headquarters for five hours." He took a step   
  
forward invading her personal space. "On top of that, the girl I was dating left   
  
without a word because of the contract my father amended."  
  
"I'm sorry," she told him. "But I didn't know anything about that. In fact, I   
  
was only told my orders a day ago so I'm just as unprepared as you." She poked   
  
him in the chest. "We're going to be living together and I'd rather it be   
  
pleasant instead of a battlefield. Can you manage to be civilized?"  
  
Shinji sighed, it was all too much for him and he didn't have the energy   
  
anymore. So he held out a hand. "Shinji Ikari, nice to meet you."  
  
"Captain Misato Katsuragi, pleased to meet you." She shook his hand and   
  
smiled.  
  
"Welcome to Mars, Shinji Ikari."  
  
* * * *  
  
Hopefully, everyone knows what the Pony Express was. This story has nothing to   
  
do with the American West. The title and story come from HardWired by Walter Jon   
  
Williams. In that story, a character by the name of Cowboy is a smuggler on a   
  
ruined Earth. He believes that he is doing a noble thing, outsmarting the   
  
authorities both on Earth and in orbit. That is up until he learns that he is   
  
only a tool being used by the authorities. He rebels and wins at great cost. The   
  
Pony Express is his delta and an ideal that he sticks to throughout the story.  
  
What does this have to do with my story? Don't know yet.  
  
Anyway, C&C is welcome at eva_pilot9@doramail.com 


	2. The Cup Flowth Over

The Pony Express Chapter 2: The Cup Flowth Over  
  
Red Horseman  
  
* * * *  
  
Water sleeps... but your enemies don't.  
  
--Water Sleeps: A Black Company Novel  
Book Three of Glittering Stone  
  
* * * *  
  
Hikari Horaki was the model class representative at her preparatory school. She knew when the hammer needed to fall on students and when a kind word or gesture would work. Some students would describe her as a strict disciplinarian, but they were the ones who felt they could slack off and received her wrath. Others would describe her a best friend, someone who was there for people when they needed a shoulder to lean on. But none of that mattered to the brunette as she picked up her pace to reach the administrative wing. The walk to the secured area gave her too much time to dwell on non-academic thoughts.  
  
Her social life was stuck in neutral and if she didn't do something soon it would quickly shift into reverse. She knew she was good looking and had received many an offer for dates or one night stands. She had politely refused all of them even the ones for sex, though she had come close to hitting a couple guys. There was one person she had had her eyes on for a couple years, but she didn't know how he felt. Over the weekend, he had grudgingly accepted her request for him to accompany her to the mall and she had all but asked him if he wanted to go steady. And like all her other subtle hints, it had flown over his head without registering in the slightest. Some of her friends had told her to give up while others had said that she'd have to ask in blunt direct way.  
  
With a shake of her head, she banished her worries over her private life and smoothed her skirt with one hand while triggering the door. She was surprised that except for a few people the normally bustling room was empty of teachers and administrators. One teacher rushed past her with a sympathetic look and dashed out the door while she made her way to the principal's office. Sliding her identification card through reader and registering with the school's computer, she hesitantly walked through the final door to her destination.  
  
Hikari shivered as the men in the room broke their contest of wills at her entrance and focussed on her. The head administrator was agitated, his stony facade shattered something she had never seen him like in her entire time at the school. And if he was flustered, she briefly wondered if she even had a chance with whatever had caused him such discomfort. With that thought, she turned her attention to the other man in the room, and the obvious source of hostility in the room.  
  
He was handsome in a rugged sort of way, she decided as she studied him with guarded eyes. The man looked like someone that could take care of himself and expected respect from others. Hikari blushed, feeling completely naked under his dark blue eyes as they traced over her body taking in every detail. Her cheeks burned hotter when he smiled, though she wondered if it was because he liked what he saw or something else. Whatever it she didn't have time to dwell on it as the principal cleared his throat getting her attention again.  
  
"This is Shinji Ikari, a transfer student from Earth." He bit off the last word like a curse. "He's been assigned to your class so I'd appreciate it if you showed him around."  
  
"That is completely unnecessary," Shinji told him.  
  
The principal turned red. "She'll show you around and get you settled in. Is that understood, Mister Ikari?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
- - - -  
  
The walk out of the office and back into the main corridors of the school were tense and quiet for Hikari. Normally, a transfer student would be a break from the routine and a chance for her to get to know them. But with the tension that had filled the principal's office and his last outburst as they had left set her on edge. Transfer students no matter what their age always seemed to be full of nervous energy or quietly subdued but not this one. He was calmly walking next to her, unaffected by anything that had just happened or could happen. In fact, he had the air of boredom about him, like moving to a new planet and school wasn't something new to him.  
  
Flipping open the old-fashioned hardcopies given to her by the secretary, she decided to concentrate on something else. And was caught unprepared for what was contained in his records. She felt a little jealous at his grades and accomplishments at his last school, and hoped that he wouldn't decide to run for her representative position. That was until she noticed his absenteeism record and wondered how someone who missed so much school could have grades like his. The pang of jealously returned when she flipped back to first page and saw what school he had attended.  
  
All her life she had attended schools with strict discipline and teaching regimes never wondering if she had missed anything. But as she studied Shinji's record she felt that she had missed out on too much in her life. The vast majority of his grades had come from individual projects and experimentation with standardized tests representing a small fraction. She closed his records with a snap and couldn't help but sigh in resignation at how her life had turned out.  
  
"Something the matter, Miss Horaki?" Shinji asked, fully aware of her actions.  
  
"Just wondering about what could've been," she answered. "And don't call me Miss Horaki, I'm only nineteen years old."  
  
He nodded though he wondered what her age had to do with anything then remembered Rebecca had been the same. It was like they didn't want to feel old though they hadn't reached a tenth of their potential biological age. The scientific community had reached three hundred as the longest a person could live if they never swapped bodies. And he knew he was digressing from what was relevant with the young woman.  
  
"All right, Hikari." A gentle touch got her moving again. "As for what you said, I wouldn't dwell on it too much. You could spend your entire life hating yourself because you'll always wonder if you could've been happier. Make the best of the situations thrown to you in life."  
  
"You're talking from experience?" She asked boldly.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Oh, sorry." The bell echoed off the walls but she didn't hurry. "Can I ask what got the principal so angry or is it private?"  
  
"These."  
  
At first she thought he had gestured at his ears and assumed that he was wearing earrings, something prohibited by school rules for both sexes. But her humorous grin disappeared when she realized he had pointed higher up on his skull. She chastised herself for not noticing the polished titanium sockets embedded into his skull. Though she couldn't really blame herself for not noticing since they were only the size of a thumbnail. And if the school was adamant about not allowing earrings their policy on sockets was even worse. So if Shinji had been accepted and not told about his operation the school could reverse their decision.  
  
"Addicts rarely go through the expense of multiple sockets to feed their habits," he bluntly reassured her. "Nor do they buy the best doctors or equipment on the market."  
  
- - - -  
  
Touji Suzuhara was a passionate man, both his friends and enemies could attest to that facet of his personality. He routinely settled things with his fists instead of calmly figuring out the problem. He also had been labeled the class enforcer because of his fervent willingness to do anything for class representatives, something that hadn't been lost on the rest of the students. And it was that leap to action that caused a lot of headaches for him, his best friend and the class representative. Yet at the moment he wasn't enforcing any school or class rules instead it was something far more personal.  
  
His zealous tendencies multiplied a hundred times when it involved his younger sister. He had been very protective of her before their mother's death and afterward he took even great pains in sheltering her. And he had failed just once in his duties over the years. That failure had caused almost as much damage to his sister as the funeral and he had never forgiven himself. He had also not forgotten who or what had caused his sister so much pain, and that was why Shinji was pinned to the wall.  
  
Yet despite the hand on his throat, the smaller man didn't show any of the fear most had when confronted by Touji. Instead he simply stared at the bigger man with the calmest eyes the other had seen, and causing the enforcer to shiver. He remembered watching a film in class once on the subject of Terran sharks and had walked away impressed by the fish. But what he had never told anyone was that the eyes of the predators had disturbed him when they swam past the cameras. Those eyes reflected a cruel intelligence just waiting for the men to make a mistake in their presence. And Shinji's eyes held the same intelligence, albeit without the cruelty, as he waited for Touji to make the next move.  
  
"Touji, your neck!"  
  
The larger man turned and looked at his best friend. "What about it, Kensuke?"  
  
"You're..." Kensuke didn't finish instead wiping a hand across his friend's neck and cried out.  
  
Touji reached up and touched his own neck feeling a warm viscous liquid under his fingertips. He turned back to Shinji realizing why he had been so eerily calm during the proceedings. Carefully, he lowered his target to the ground and released his hold on him before backing away. It was only because of that action that he saw the minute twitch of Shinji's hand and a flash of light. He had never been in control since cornering the new student in the schoolyard. With that realization, he retreated dragging Kensuke behind him as they made their way back into the building and the school nurse.  
  
"I see you met Touji and Kensuke."  
  
Shinji turned to see Hikari step out from behind a copse of trees and make her way to him. The petite young woman looked at the beginning of bruises on his neck before sighing and sitting down at nearby table. He stood there unsure of his standing in her eyes and the school's as she efficiently laid out a lunch and gestured for him to join her. Sitting down, he briefly studied her seeing a hint of regret before turning his attention to the meal. Over the years, he had become quite an expert in spotting machine-produced food and meals. So he felt a little shocked that a real person had carefully prepared seeing everything before him.  
  
"You made all of this."  
  
The brunette blushed at the awe in his voice. "You don't have to try to impress me."  
  
"I'm not." He laughed. "It's just that my own cooking skills are so inadequate that I could never approach what you've done."  
  
"You can't be that bad," she stated. "I can always give you tips if you want."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"Good. Now let's eat before lunch is over."  
  
"You said something about meeting Touji and Kensuke earlier," Shinji said after they had been eating for a few minutes. "Did you expect something like that to happen?"  
  
"Yeah, but not like that. Normally those two are so eager to meet the new people that we share lunch with the transfer." She placed her chopsticks on the table and picked up her drink. "It's not really your fault and I should've warned you, but it slipped my mind."  
  
"They thought I was a buttonhead, or at least Touji did?" He didn't need her confirming nod to know that. "Did something...happen?"  
  
Again came the curt acknowledgement. "Yes. About three years ago, a gang in the outskirts of town kidnapped Touji's sister.  
  
"And they raped her?" This time it was a shake of the head. "Organ theft, torture, age accelerated her."  
  
He kept listing the various illegal activities he had heard about through his contacts. With each one, Hikari grew as the saying went green around the gills but he hadn't touched on the correct one. He paused and had to search his memory for the most obscure thing he could think of, but again received a negative reply from the young woman. Finally, as he was about to speak she held up a hand and stopped him from uttering anything else.  
  
"Please stop," she begged. "I know you're trying to help but do you really know what happens during some of those...activities?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Hikari decided not to pursue that subject. "It wasn't anything that grotesque, but it was devastating to Touji's family." She swallowed and gathered her courage at his impatient stare. "They turned her into an addict at the age of twelve."  
  
"I see."  
  
- - - -  
  
Misato came through the door of her apartment dead tired and simply wanting a beer followed by a long hot bath. What she got instead was a scene she had seen and participated in many times during her tour with the Corps. Strewn about the floor of her apartment were guns, uniforms, ammunition, holographic projectors, and other various instruments. And Shinji was lying in the middle of all the hardware ignorant of her presence with a laser-optic cable attached to each of his interface sockets.  
  
Stepping over a plasma rifle, she made her way through the mess and bent over to inspect his face only to see an occasional twitch of his eyelids. Straightening, she sighed and walked into the kitchen and grabbed a six- pack of beer before sitting at the table. The week since he had arrived had been a time of adjustment for the both of them and she had thought they were doing okay. They had had a few arguments but she had expected that since receiving her orders. For so long, Shinji had lived on his own and by his own rules that forcing him into a subordinate position would've rankled him. She had decided she would allow him the space that he was used to, only enforcing the rules when he finally fell under her authority.  
  
As she downed her second can of beer she toyed with the idea of jacking in and seeing what was occupying the man. But she quickly shot down that idea on several grounds ranging from professional to personal. The strongest decision not to interface with Shinji was mainly from a hardware point of view. It had been five years since her last upgrade and only one since Shinji's, and she didn't want to cause a disruption. Placing her beverage on the table, she rubbed at her temples while cursing herself under her breath.  
  
"I need to get out more," she muttered.  
  
"Why is that, Misato?"  
  
She looked embarrassed as Shinji walked past the table and toward the cabinets to start pulling out ingredients. As she watched, he quickly put together the beginning of a small meal, the first time either of them had cooked in a week. A hint of jealously welled up inside her at how effortlessly he worked compared to her own efforts. But she got her jealously and embarrassment under control by the time he had placed the food in the oven and walked over to refrigerator. He pulled out a container of juice and soon joined her at the table with neither speaking.  
  
"So how was school?" She asked after the silence had grown too thick.  
  
He shrugged his shoulders. "School is school no matter what planet or system it takes place in."  
  
"Meet anybody?" This time she was rewarded with an embarrassed look.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Besides meeting Hikari, Touji and Kensuke his inbox had been full of messages from students in his homeroom and those that had witnessed his altercation during lunch. A majority of them had simply been the typical things sent to new students on their first days. A few had taken Touji's position of labeling him an addict and had warned that things could get rough if he stayed. The risqué messages from quite a few of the female students were the ones he had been least expecting.  
  
Despite his profession that required him to seek out people, interact with others, and generally be outgoing he didn't make friends that easily. Rebecca and Kaname had sought him out and had made the first moves in their relationships. Others had become his friends once they saw he hadn't been a threat to them and seen how smart he was. But the girls at his new school baffled him and he briefly wondered if their parents knew of their other sides. A quiet cough brought him back to the present and he saw Misato with a goofy grin on her face, and groaned.  
  
"So what were you doing when I came in?" She decided that she'd spare any embarrassment for the moment. "And what's with all the hardware in my living room?"  
  
"I was doing some research and talking to my co-workers, who'll be jumping in early next week. As for the weapons-" Again he shrugged his shoulders. "I'll be going out later so don't wait up for me."  
  
Misato narrowed her eyes, not having heard anything. "You got a new contract?"  
  
"No. Just some surveillance of the local areas."  
  
- - - -  
  
Lying to people was part of the written job description of his profession and over the years he had become an expert. He felt slightly bad at lying to Misato about what he was doing that night since he thought she was really a nice person. But he hadn't wanted her either reporting his activities to his father or, it was remote, following him. And he didn't need an amateur, who could cause a shit-load of trouble, trailing behind him. Also he didn't want her following because some of the things he would be doing were outlawed.  
  
It had been easy to break into the main Martian Ministry of Justice's mainframe and gather all relevant data on the gang he was looking for. He had found the cases labeled unsolved with no leads, though he found it odd that no one had put the pieces together. The gang's modus operandi and selection of targets should've put detectives in the general vicinity where they could've tracked down the criminals. So with that thought, he reached down and touched the heavy pistol at his hip reassured by the cool ceramics and metals.  
  
For the last five hours, he had been purposely weaving his way through the main entertainment and shopping district of Olympus City. He had stopped no one or asked any questions instead letting his eyes and ears backed up by his liquid crystal guide his feet. It had always been a successful strategy on his other jobs and it didn't fail him in his current operation as he mapped the district. He had traced the outlines of places that were heavily enforced, areas that gang members would avoid like the plague. And every five minutes, his internal map had been updated with new data until he had narrowed it down to the spot he was standing at.  
  
The intersection he was studying with a critical eye didn't look like a heavy crime area. There were no signs of gang graffiti nor were any of the lights broken above the clean streets. None of the surrounding buildings had any overt security meant to deter crime and they weren't the typical pawnshops surrounding such areas. But it was misleading, and Shinji quickly saw how things would've taken place once the criminals had found their target.  
  
Four secondary streets from the district intersected at that one hub before they joined a tertiary transportation node. Maglev trains screamed into terminals every ten minutes while personal vehicles darted all over the place in the search for parking. Twelve banks of lift tubes carrying both cargo and people also served the entire area. All in all, it wouldn't take much to separate a person from their compatriots and transport them to a hideout, especially with the weak security.  
  
Shinji grinned and stepped away from the building he had been leaning against and walked into the crowd. Abrupt movement drew the human eye to its location and that was what Shinji had been waiting for. So it was easy to spot the kidnapping as it took place right in front of an officer and maybe twenty feet from him. He never picked up his pace as they walked the girl past the lift tubes and maglev terminals into the darkness of the city's outskirts. With a mental command, he switched to night vision and locked onto the group with one of his programs. As long as he stayed within eyesight of the criminals and their target he would never lose them to the darkness or crowds.  
  
For half an hour, he trailed them picking up his pace only when they picked up their own as they trotted down the streets. Again he grinned when they stepped into a poorly maintained building off the main streets with few residential units nearby. And his implant told him there was too much power usage for such a building for the current time. A mental command caused his civilian clothes to shimmer before becoming his normal work clothes with necessary weapons. Flipping the safety off on his carbine he strode toward the darkened building and his answers.  
  
- - - -  
  
A flip of his wrist caused a head to go flying in one direction while the headless corpse dropped in a pool of blood. Other such bodies littered the hideout attesting to his unwillingness to show mercy to the gangsters. To him they didn't deserve the title of human beings instead he labeled them as parasites and killed them appropriately. The kidnapped girl alternated between retching and screaming as she huddled in the near corner. His heavy pistol boomed when one addict lunged at him with a makeshift spear and was thrown backwards his guts spilling out a large hole. Replacing his pistol in its holster, he drew a small blade and made his way to a man at the far end of the room.  
  
Shinji didn't know and didn't want to know how the operation he was busting could stay hidden from the authorities for so long. He hoped that the authorities were on the trails of the smugglers as he stared at the quantity and quality of stored medical supplies. Not only that but the labels on some of the storage bins hinted at state of the art implants, a massive loss no one could overlook. So it was with trepidation that he stopped in front of the sole survivor wondering if what he saw was reality.  
  
"Here, you look you could use this."  
  
Shinji looked up just as a cold can pressed against his forehead breaking him out of his reverie of the night. He stared at the beverage like he had never seen it before and the hand holding it shook. Looking up, he saw Misato standing in front him wearing jeans and a ragged T-shirt. Reaching up, he took the offered drink causing the violet-haired woman to smile and sit next to him. They sat there quietly drinking their drinks and watching the far sun slowly slide above the horizon.  
  
"For someone who just got here you sure moved fast in leaving your mark," she finally commented. Getting no reply she continued. "Several high- ranking officers have staked out their careers in finding you. Of course, no one promised on following the trail of stolen goods or the files found on the computers." She paused taking a long swallow. "I thought you said that you didn't have a contract pending on Mars."  
  
He pressed the cold can to his head. "I didn't."  
  
"Fifty men are dead because..."  
  
"They deserved to die!"  
  
"Did they?"  
  
Liquid sprayed from his hand as he violently crushed his drink at her statement. Misato watched with a critical eye while his emotions raged and knowing that his anger wasn't normal. It wasn't the first time she had seen someone react almost violently when questioned about their actions. She had gone through such motions before and helped the troops under her command cope. Sighing, she tossed her empty can and watched it arc through the air to land in a trash receptacle a few feet away.  
  
"Did you have an anchor before?" she asked quietly.  
  
"No," he answered emotionlessly.  
  
Misato nodded. "A girlfriend perhaps."  
  
"Two of them."  
  
"Then they were your anchors. Helping you to keep from going off the deep end after a mission, right?" She didn't need to see his face to know her words had hit home. "It's nothing to be ashamed about, Shinji. I went through what you're feeling so many times that I lost count."  
  
"When I first started do this kind of work I thought it was just a phase. But it still hurts so much. I feel like I'm going to puke, but I feel proud." He shook his head. "Does it ever go away?"  
  
"Only when you stop killing, or grown used to killing. And if you've grown used to taking someone's life than it's too late." She pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Want one?"  
  
He waved a hand. "No thanks."  
  
"Good choice. It's a nasty habit, but it's not like it'll kill me." Smoke jetted out into air. "So you want to tell me what happened."  
  
Shinji was reluctant to tell Misato what had happened, but relented when he knew he'd found a kindred spirit. He started out slowly talking about day at school and all that had occurred at that time. Misato learned of his conversations with Hikari, the altercation with Touji and Kensuke, his research and surveillance. Finally he reached why he had did it and he found trouble putting it into words. But he finished his tale only to find Misato grinning almost insanely.  
  
"You're father was right when he said your morals were both your strength and weakness."  
  
"Actually he said my friends are my weaknesses," he corrected her.  
  
"It doesn't matter." She reached out and squeezed his hand. "It's admirable that you decided to take revenge for a person you never met. And on top of that you did for the sister of the man who wanted to beat you up."  
  
"Something still doesn't make sense."  
  
Taking the tip of his blade, Shinji inserted it into a thin narrow aperture and twisted breaking the seal of the helmet. As the metal unsealed with hiss and fell to the ground he stepped back dropping the knife and grabbing his gun. The man's skin had a red tint, which he finally linked to LCL from the creature's smell. His scalp had been peeled back and the cables bored directly into the brain bypassing any sockets. More disturbing were the man's eyes when Shinji lifted the pistol to his forehead. They were completely empty of fear and held no signs of insanity normally associated with addicts, and then he smiled.  
  
"Shinji Ikari, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," the creature's voice was clear and strong. "You're reputation proceeds you."  
  
"How did you..."  
  
"Your skills are very good, but clumsy to one who has been in the face for decades. By the way I am Shamshel."  
  
"I don't care who you are," Shinji shot back. "I'm here to kill you, or don't you care?"  
  
"It matters not whether I live or die," Shamshel stated. "And killing me will accomplish nothing. You have no idea of what you're getting yourself into boy."  
  
"We'll see about that." With that, Shinji sent an irradiated bullet through bone and biological brain matter to fry the man's liquid crystal.  
  
- - - -  
  
"So you want to tell us what happened."  
  
Shinji looked up from his meal and immediately went on guard at who was approaching. Hikari was in the lead holding her normal boxed meal, but it was who was following that put him on edge. Touji and Kensuke were a short distance behind the brunette carrying their lunches. Yet what made Shinji relax were the looks on their faces when the class representative sat down across from them. In fact, Touji wouldn't even meet his eyes as he sat next to Hikari while Kensuke sat on her other side.  
  
"What makes you think anything's wro..."  
  
The bounty hunter grinned when Touji cried out. "Nothing's wrong, Hikari."  
  
"Then why are you so..." Her brows furrowed as she thought. "Subdued lately." She nervously opened her lunch. "You weren't exactly a conversationalist that first day but you didn't avoid people.  
  
"Yeah, you were like an ice man on the first day," Kensuke piped in. "We thought you were going to be like the Ice Maiden."  
  
"Kensuke! Don't talk about Miss Ayanami like that."  
  
Learning that Rei was in the same class had come as quite the shock to Shinji, but he had gotten over it. Her cool personality that he had witnessed during the mission was in even greater effect at school. The few conversations they had had were short and always initiated by him. And then she had been absent from school the last half of the week and he hadn't been able to get anything from Misato. Yet her disappearance wasn't what had put him into his current state of melancholy. A grunt knocked him out his own world and he saw Touji glaring at Hikari who had an innocent look.  
  
"You don't have to apologize," Shinji preempted. "I'd have done the same thing if our positions were reversed."  
  
Touji shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "It can't work that way, Shinji."  
  
"His sister chewed him out," Kensuke explained. "That's why he can't just let it go."  
  
"You didn't have say that!" Touji's face was red but he finally met Shinji's eyes. "Look I was... wrong last week. I shouldn't have... tried beating you up without... getting to know you. I'm... sorry."  
  
The two men studied each other before Shinji nodded. "Apology accepted, Mister Suzuhara."  
  
With that the other three students were able to relax and started enjoying their lunches. Conversation easily flowed between Hikari and Shinji while Touji and Kensuke held their own discussions. Shinji noticed that the bigger man seemed almost hesitant when he spoke with Hikari and vice versa. He looked over to Kensuke and received a knowing smile, which confirmed his theories about the two not that he'd be able to do anything. But as the conversations and lunch drew to a close, Shinji became aware of all three nervously looking at him before Kensuke finally cleared his throat.  
  
"I have my own ship," Shinji said beating him to the punch. "That's why I have these sockets and why I can't have them removed no matter what the school says."  
  
"Your own ship," Kensuke whispered on the verge of drooling. "Damn, you're so lucky." He glanced at his friends who nodded. "But that wasn't what we're going to ask you about."  
  
"Then..."  
  
"Touji's sister wants to meet you and she won't take no for an answer."  
  
- - - -  
  
Yuri Suzuhara despite everything that had happened to her in her fourteen years of life had a positive outlook on everything. But at the moment she was completely scared of what she was going to learn. She had had her brother invite the new student over to their house in order to apologize for Touji's behavior. Shinji Ikari didn't frighten her like her kidnappers had he even went out of his ways to reassure her at times. Dinner had gone smoothly with her brother and his friends, but then Shinji had brought up something that exhilarated her.  
  
He had said that he had brought a couple of co-workers with him and they were waiting outside. He had asked if he could invite them in and she had acquiesced knowing he had been speaking solely to her. The man and woman who had entered had sockets just like Mister Ikari, but for different purposes as she learned. They had slowly explained what they had learned from Shinji and his conversation with Hikari. The man and woman then went on to tell all present what they proposed to do if she agreed. Her brother had protested loudly until she had rested a hand on his arm and telling him to be silent. She had asked the duo what would happen if they found what they were looking for and they had told her.  
  
And that was how she had ended up in her current situation with three other people floating around in her head. It was a weird sensation to say the least as at times it felt like she was in an enclosed space with others that she couldn't touch. At other times, she felt her body react to their probes in various embarrassing ways, something she had only felt in the privacy of her room. And at other periods she had felt her brother's presence, which had the effect of reassuring and amusing her. At times his thoughts centered on her wellbeing only to drift to images of Hikari, which was currently happening. But her smile evaporated when the presence of the three people disappeared.  
  
She found the image of the living room to be both comforting and frightening as she slowly woke from her stupor. The feeling of having others in her head had been weird but almost reassuring in a strange way. It was like she wasn't alone in confronting the addiction that had been forced upon her. And as she blinked away the crust in her eyes the fear that they hadn't found anything reasserted itself upon her mind. Yuri gratefully accepted the class of water from Hikari and took small sips trying not to worry, and failing. The two scientists, she had put the label on them, were quietly talking among themselves and Shinji about what they had found. Finally they turned around and faced everyone in the room with blank face and she felt a surge of panic.  
  
"Well, we have both good news and bad news," the woman, Maya Ibuki, said. "The good news is that we can repair the damage inflicted upon you and get rid of the implanted addiction."  
  
Makoto Hyuga raised a hand. "The bad news is that it'll take sometime to... um... rewire Yuri's brain."  
  
With a press of a key, Makoto projected a 3-D image into the middle of the room before anyone had a chance to talk. Various colors highlighted portions of Yuri's brain while columns of data scrolled past at incredible speeds. The only person besides Maya and Makoto that could interpret the information and come close to understanding it was Shinji. He knew what most of the data concerned since he had seen it all before his operation to receive his crystal and sockets. And he immediately understood what Makoto was taking about when the hologram stopped rotating and red lines appeared on the image.  
  
"The nano-machines that the underground used are quite advanced yet simple in their own way," Maya began. "Unlike normal nano-technology, which are programmed to continuously reproduce until their programming is carried out these are the opposites. They slowly take over the victim's brain as per their internal programming but they have a limited life span, which is normal."  
  
She paused and took a drink. "The difference is that as they die the survivors induce a subconscious desire on the part of the victim to search out a certain drug. This drug briefly overrides the death programming and the nano-machines reproduce. During this burst of reproduction, they go farther into the victim's brain. This has the effect of causing shorter life spans that in turn means the victim has to search out the drug sooner and so forth until they can't live without the drug. Once they are completely under control of the technology and drugs." Maya shrugged her shoulders. "I can't really tell you."  
  
"And you learned all of that in-" Touji looked at the clock and was surprised. "Six hours of rummaging through my sister's head."  
  
"Yes we did!" Maya snapped and looked like she was going to say more, but Hyuga's hand on her shoulder stopped her.  
  
"Unlike Shinji who still retains approximately sixty percent of his biological brain we only have twenty percent of ours left," Makoto said. "That means our liquid crystals are physically twice as big as his. Physical size doesn't really matter instead what's important is the processing power that is contained in our skulls, which is six times as fast as Shinji's." He smiled at the confused looks from the students. "What I'm trying to say is that Maya and I carry the equivalent of a second generation supercomputer capable of sixty billion computations per millisecond."  
  
"So that means in the six hours since we started we mapped your sister's brain and everything that has been altered within. Also we isolated a sample of the nano-technology and forced it to give us its encrypted primary programming," Hyuga accepted the drink offered by Hikari. "Then we had to break the security surrounding it and understand what we were seeing. After that we had to run models on how the technology worked on the human brain. And once all those models were done running and we got the results we pulled out and here we are."  
  
Touji rubbed his temples understanding very little of what had been said. "Stop, please. Just tell me the bad news without any long winded explanations."  
  
"The first thing that we have to do is remove the offending nano- machines from your sister's body. Once that is done we have to introduce our own and have them repair the damage done to her." A quiet cough from Shinji had Maya looking disappointed. "It's going to take at least six months and maybe more to 'repair' your sister, Touji."  
  
The man looked at the scientists before turning to stare at his sister and then began to laugh. "That's the bad news! I thought you were going to say..." Tears were streaming down his face but then he got serious. "I want to do it and I'll try to find a way to pay for it. But at the moment we can't afford it."  
  
"It's not going to cost a thing," Shinji told everyone gathered.  
  
- - - -  
  
Misato lifted her head from her kitchen table when she heard the front door open. She got to her feet and walked into the living room at the same time as Shinji and they stared at each other. They both reached the same conclusion that the other looked like death warmed over. On Misato's part it was because of a night out on the town with Ritsuko and Aoba while Shinji's was from his visit to the Suzuhara residence. He attempted to walk down the hallway just behind Misato when a hand stopped him on his arm.  
  
"A young woman by the name of Rebecca Miller called while you were out," she told. "Said that she was wondering why you hadn't made any attempt in contacting her."  
  
She watched him nod his head before he pulled out of her grip and walked away from her. His door opening and closing was particularly loud in her ears, and it wasn't from her drinking. Since his personal vendetta and her talking about his uses of his girlfriends he had become more withdrawn. And she knew that he had been and was still going through all the past events spent with those girls for personal faults. He was questioning himself and his emotions, and whether he had simply been using Rebecca and Kaname instead of loving them. So it was with those thoughts that she strode to his door and slammed it open.  
  
"I knew you were going to follow me." He said inviting her in.  
  
His room was immaculate, a condition he took great pains in maintaining since moving in two weeks ago. All the tools of his trade were nowhere in sight while his desk held only his computer and its peripherals. There was an old fashioned stereo against one wall, but she didn't even know if he listened to it. She was surprised to see a cello case lying on the floor the musical instrument gleaming in the light. Nowhere in his files or their conversations had been any indication that he played am instrument. He noticed her gaze and walked over to the case and gently closed it before sitting at his desk.  
  
"You're not going to call her."  
  
"No," he answered. "I've been thinking, probably too much in too short amount of time. But I decided it'd be easier this way. Better to make a clean break of it than doing something I'll regret."  
  
"Shinji..."  
  
He smiled weakly. "Yes, I'm running away if you want to look at it that way. You know when we broke up she said the reason why we couldn't go on was because she was scared." Shinji lifted his head and stared at Misato. "She was scared that she'd wake up one day to hear that I'd been killed. We stayed friends even after our break up, but you know what."  
  
"What?" she answered without conviction.  
  
"When she comforted me the night before my transfer I felt no love coming from her." He looked back toward the floor. "She told me the words but there was nothing behind them. And as I thought this week about what you said, I realized that I had been doing the same. I was telling them I loved them and taking them to bed though I never meant the words."  
  
"It's still wrong not to call her about your decision," she shot back.  
  
"It's my life and I have to live with whatever happens in it."  
  
Misato knew that nothing she could say would change his mind or conclusions he had drawn. She could say that he had overanalyzed his actions and those around him seeing things that hadn't been there. She could tell him that cutting things off without a valid reason caused more pain than it deflected. That he was hurting and feeling guilty was apparent but it could be coming from more than one source. So nothing that there was nothing she could do, Misato did what she normally did in such situations.  
  
"So what were you doing at Touji's place?"  
  
"Helping figure out what happened with his sister and then finding a way to correct it," he told her.  
  
"I take it that you were successful."  
  
He grinned. "The diagnostics is complete but the treatment has just started. It's going to take a few months to repair the damage done the underground." Shinji paused, gathering his thoughts. "Does the word SEELE ring any sort of bells, Misato?"  
  
She shook her head. "Just that it's German for soul. Why do you ask, Shinji?"  
  
"No reason."  
  
- - - -  
  
Gendo Ikari leaned back from the computer screen and frowned at what he had just seen. He really didn't care about his son or his actions, and he had no qualms about using him. It didn't matter to him that Shinji was a bounty hunter or how many people he bedded in his life. But it became his problem when his son became involved with things that didn't concern him. And the report he had just received from Captain Katsuragi justified him becoming an active participant in his son's life.  
  
Pressing a key, he classified the report and secured it in a remote sector with others like it. Standing, he went over to the large armored viewports and stared down upon the red planet. For so long he had lorded over others holding their lives and livelihoods in his fingers like a cruel puppeteer. Controlling others had been his life until he had met Yui Ikari fifty years ago and fallen in real love. She and their son had changed his life for the positive until her death ten years ago. And since that day so long ago he had grown accustomed to the strings woven about him by others.  
  
So he wasn't surprised when half an hour later a light began flashing on his desk interrupting his work. Gendo informed his secretary that he would be indisposed for the rest of the day and to cancel all appointments. He then placed a call to Fuyutsuki asking his subordinate to join him in his office. When the gray-haired gentleman finally stepped through the doors of the office both were prepared for what was going to happen.  
  
The room disappeared and thirteen black monoliths quickly encircled his desk causing Gendo to smirk. Shinji must've caused enough trouble to upset the old men enough that they didn't want to show their faces. That assumption lasted mere seconds before the monoliths shifted into the visages of his controllers. But none of his anger or resentment was visible on his face as he stared at the leader of the council. Kihl Lorenz claimed to be the oldest living person alive, though he had done nothing to prove it.  
  
But he didn't care about anyone's claim to be the oldest human being as the old men talked among themselves. He felt satisfied that his son had been able to throw the members of SEELE into such disarray with such ease. He didn't know how Shinji had done it, but he had taken out a major node of operations in a single night with no trouble. Of course that would change if or when the men before him figured out who had committed such an act of disrespect. The addition of sound gave him enough warning to bury his emotions and he was an empty shell when Kihl leaned forward.  
  
"Some information has recently come to our attention concerning operations on Mars," Kihl began before glaring at Gendo.  
  
"Mister Ikari, I would like to discuss your son and his recent actions."  
  
* * * *  
  
Five more characters enter the scene though I still have to flesh out a few the ones that were introduced in chapter 1. With SEELE showing up that just leaves Asuka and Kaji. Sadly they won't be showing up in the next chapter. What about the Angels you ask. They won't always be people or things; they might be names of operations like chapter 1 and such. If they show up at all.  
  
Anyway, C&C is welcome at eva_pilot9@doramail.com 


	3. Benedict Arnold

The Pony Express Chapter 3: Benedict Arnold  
  
By the Red Horseman  
  
* * * *  
  
"There is no such thing as justice. There is only the desire to see the pain spread around equally."  
  
"There is no such thing as overkill."  
  
---A Day For Damnation  
  
* * * *  
  
Trees shredded effortlessly under the heavy aerial bombardment as the attack choppers pumped rockets at their target. On the fringes of the devastation, armored troopers were making their way through dense jungle. A cry of victory went out over the network when one of the rockets finally struck the intruder. For the briefest of moments, the pursuing soldiers stared into the heart of a nuclear maelstrom. The echo of the nuclear self- destruct of the decoy echoed off the surrounding hills and turned communications into static.  
  
From miles away, Shinji heard the dull thump of the detonation and stopped to lean against a nearby wooden giant. He grabbed his canteen and swore at the red light on its cap telling him decontamination wasn't yet completed. Swearing, he replaced the container on his belt and wiped at his sweaty brow before restarting his perilous trek. He knew with the destruction of his decoy that he was down to two more before he was on his own. However, there was no doubt in his mind that he would survive and that he'd collect his due when he returned.  
  
"Damn you father," he muttered under his breath.  
  
- - - -  
  
The preparatory school had some weird guidelines for graduation Shinji had learned when he had finally looked over the paperwork. A cultural requirement wasn't exactly new to him, but requiring students to attend various monthly events was. Though unlike other sections where the homeroom teachers choose the event, their section had adopted the concept of allowing the students to input suggestions. The class had compromised and voted between two events after spending a week sifting through a variety of ideas. Not that he really had anything to complain about when the decision had been finalized.  
  
A symphony performance was quite soothing and entertaining compared to other events the class had been to before. It also gave him time to think, something he had been doing a lot of in the past three months. He didn't exactly hate having to use his brain, especially at school or on a mission. What he disliked was the downtime between school, missions, or anything that normally occupied him. At those times he had found himself thinking too much about the past, his father, everyone he had met, his own actions, and a deluge of memories. And it annoyed him because he had spent so much time not thinking about that kind of stuff before his transfer.  
  
"So this is where you disappeared to, Shinji."  
  
The young man turned his attention from the performance to see half-a-dozen students occupying the seats around him. His hackles briefly rose at the interruption and unwanted company before he calmed himself. Though he had wanted to be by himself, he should've known that his friends would've eventually found him during one of the intermissions. He rarely found himself alone at school since befriending Touji and Hikari. It had slightly irritated him since he wondered if they were that hard up for company until he learned that they found him intriguing.  
  
"Shouldn't you be sitting next to your girlfriend?" he whispered to Touji who had sat next to him.  
  
The jock stiffened. "Girlfriend? What are you talking about?"  
  
"Hikari."  
  
"Don't know what you're talking about." Touji smiled nervously when the class representative turned in her seat.  
  
"Forget I said anything," Shinji moaned. "My ex-girlfriend said I was dense, but I think you have me beat in that area."  
  
It hadn't taken long for Kensuke to fill him in on everything that was happening in school from tests to relationships. The romances didn't really matter to him except to prove his hypothesis concerning Touji and Hikari. He knew that he had been thick at times with Kaname during their relationship but nothing like he had seen. There was no way someone could miss the signs that someone liked them, but he had been wrong with Touji. Of course, Hikari wasn't exactly helping her cause by being so demure in her pursuits of the man. Moreover, the response of the class enforcer showed even the direct assault wasn't going to work, and he just didn't have the patient or experience to make him see the truth.  
  
"So when are you going to take us on a tour of your ship?"  
  
Kensuke was as a jack of all trades with a finger in everything, especially information gathering. He had the tenaciousness of a reporter at digging up secrets, but with a healthy dose ethics. If something he dug up could injure an innocent person, he didn't release what he had found, even to his friends. However, if no one could be hurt, or trace the information specifically back to him then Kensuke put out what he had found for all to read. His serious lack of implants hampered his efforts and so his information mainly revolved school and Olympus City.  
  
Shinji still hadn't found a reason for Touji and Kensuke's relationship after so long. One of them was interested in sports while the other enjoyed watching movies. While Touji was loud and brash, Kensuke liked to hang out in the background. Also one of them followed the rules both in school and society while the other flaunted his ability in breaking them. They did have a couple things in common but nothing to explain the relationship. Both of them were friends with Hikari, who seemed to temper their personalities at times when they were together. Also they were quite interested in the opposite sex and went out of their way to voice their opinion on women.  
  
"If you don't keep you mouth shut, never," he told Kensuke. 'And speaking of women.'  
  
The three teenagers who had accompanied his friends had been quietly talking amongst themselves, but had perked up at Kensuke's comment. A petite raven-haired woman glanced over her shoulder and spotted him studying them. His smile never reached his eyes when she grinned at him before turning her attention back to her friends. A pinch of the nerves caused Kensuke to yelp and glare at him, but he ignored it.  
  
"And speaking of keeping one's mouth shut," he began. "What is it with you and spreading rumors about me?"  
  
The man grinned. "I thought you'd appreciate it. After all, you look like you could use the company of a young woman."  
  
"You're one to talk!" he shot back. "Just drop the attempts at matchmaking and I won't have to hurt you.  
  
Kensuke's laugh was little jittery, but he agreed. "If you say so."  
  
"I do."  
  
- - - -  
  
The concert had ended like all symphony concerts and that had been on an anticlimactic note. Most of the attendees, especially the students, had quickly dispersed when conductor had bowed at the end. He had remained in his seat, intending to be the last one out of concert hall but his friends had stayed. The girls who had been talking had brought up the idea of dinner, which he had been prepared to reject. However, the look Hikari had shot at him when he was about to voice his disagreement had silenced him. He had quietly trailed behind making polite conversation in order not to appear rude to the women. And that was how he had ended up on the roof of the establishment staring at the stars.  
  
Dinner had gone smoothly with everyone ordering a different dish and sharing it with the others. He had ended up sitting next to Jennifer, the girl with black hair, and they had talked. From the moment he had seen her in the concert hall, throwing looks his way he had been on alert. She had been about as subtle as a wing of assault shuttles making reentry in the middle of the night. He had quietly excused himself and made his way to the outdoor dining area, which had been conveniently empty. Naturally, she had appeared behind him barely five minutes after he had left the table.  
  
"You know your shyness is kind of cute, Shinji," she purred.  
  
"I'm not shy, I'm just not interested," he answered brusquely.  
  
"Why? Am I that ugly or are you..."  
  
"Don't even think about finishing that statement." He turned to face her. "Listen closely, Jennifer. You are not ugly, but I am not interested."  
  
"But..." Shinji closed his eyes not wanting to continue the conversation.  
  
"Ikari."  
  
The cool emotionless voice was like a sharp blade cutting through the tension on the rooftop. Shinji opened his eyes and turned to where the voice had come from to see Rei in the door. She was wearing a conservative suit and the same look she always wore, but he was still happy to see her. Giving Jessica a nod he walked over to where the azure-haired woman stood, stopping at the fringe of her coldness. Her crimson eyes betrayed nothing of what she was thinking about what she had either seen or heard. Shinji swallowed and reached out to gently grip her arm and turn her around so they could leave before the blonde said anything. Rei waited until they had exited the establishment before touching his fingers and getting him to release her.  
  
"Your father wants to speak to you."  
  
- - - -  
  
Shinji felt his jubilation evaporating faster than a snowball on Venus. For the last hour, he had been in the antechamber of his father's office with nothing to distract him. He briefly wondered if he should've just disappeared with Jennifer and told Rei to tell his father he'd see him later. He quickly dismissed that idea since he had been speaking the truth about not being interested. Besides, he wasn't going to give his father pleasure in providing another source of leverage in his life. He turned from studying a landscape of NERV's first terraformed planet at hearing a chime behind him.  
  
He immediately recognized the room as the one he had been held in the time his father had blackmailed him. The modifications done with the addition of a few accessories did nothing to hide that fact. And even if they had done a better job the massive black desk, the cold ebony walls, and Gendo's grim visage gave it away. Shinji matched his father's appearance as he sat in a tall well-padded chair across from the bastard. Again, neither man said a word instead content to study the other and wait for the other to make the first move.  
  
"I guess I'll go first then," Shinji quipped though his face was serious. "What do you want this time, father?"  
  
The older man didn't react. "I have a job for you, Shinji."  
  
"No, fucking shit! I would've never guessed that since you would never give me the gratification of a social visit."  
  
Shinji didn't even have the satisfaction of his harsh words getting a reaction from the scoundrel. The man before him simply reached out and touched a panel on his desk and again a screen appeared before him. Resigning himself to his current fate, he turned his attention to the screen before him and began to read. The hatred within him, which had started to cool, flared back into a full inferno at what he saw before him. The desk shook when he stood abruptly, his fists slamming into the synthetic material.  
  
"I don't do assassinations, especially for business entities!"  
  
Gendo let his son almost reach the doors. "You will do this."  
  
"And how are you going to make me do this," Shinji retorted. "You have nothing with which to blackmail me this time."  
  
"Recordings of your mother."  
  
The four simple words sent Shinji flying toward his father, every hardwired program blazing. His outstretched arm flew toward the throat of Gendo stopping mere inches from flesh. Sweat beaded on Shinji's brow as he put all his strength into breaching the barrier before him. However, the harder he tried the more resistance his endeavor met until five minutes later he gave up. Retracting his arm, he settled for glaring at the man before spinning around and stalking toward the office's doors.  
  
"You leave in six hours."  
  
"Fuck you!"  
  
- - - -  
  
For the first time in three days, Shinji allowed himself to look out upon the world with his real eyes. Half an hour after they had jumped into hyperspace, he had disconnected himself from his body losing himself in the face. And he was paying for that detachment as his body protested every movement he forced upon it. Minutes later he was finally able to stand without being blinded or feeling intense vertigo. Leaning against the cool bulkhead, he turned his head to find out where the soft breathing he had been hearing was coming from.  
  
He chastised himself for forgetting that for the first time he had a partner or a watcher as he had labeled her. Rei was sleeping in the opposite bunk, blissfully oblivious to his actions and pain. She actually looked like a fully human teenage girl when she slept, he thought staring down upon her. Yet he knew that was a lie and so he stopped looking before he woke her up. Finally noticing his cold feet, he pulled on some boots and exited unaware of crimson eyes studying him.  
  
The walk to the transport's command deck was blessedly short and he soon found himself nestled in the pilot's seat. Sitting in the acceleration chair with the cushions molding themselves to his body, he worked out the kinks. He had forgotten how much abuse a body occurred simply from not moving for days while the mind was somewhere else. When the protesting pain died to a dull throb, he reached out to the console and withdrew a thin strand. Carefully inserting the tip into a socket at his temple, he once again disappeared back into the face.  
  
A multitude of electronic voices screamed for his attention like little puppies before the main AI overrode them all. With detached interest, he inspected the maintenance displays of the transport's systems and subsystems, which were all green. A mental command cleared his vision and a couple seconds passed before he found what he needed. He rode the link to a gravitational array and blinked electronically at the scene before him.  
  
"You do not find this disturbing, Ikari?" Rei's voice was even more eerie in the face.  
  
"Not in the least, Rei. It's oddly soothing when you take the time to study it." Somehow, her presence didn't disturb him.  
  
What they were talking about was the display of hyperspace that the array was feeding into their crystals. A majority of the space travelling population grew sick at seeing the churning kaleidoscope of gravity bands. It was reasonable since the bands were always in a state of flux and a ship riding a certain wave was also in motion while it followed the twisting path. And the first time he had gazed out on the maelstrom he had become violently sick, but he hadn't given up. After a year of jumping, he had slowly become acclimated to hyperspace and soon found the tempest tranquil.  
  
He felt her electronic presence as she descended and moved to take up position on his left side. After a few minutes of silent observing, Shinji felt his attention shifting toward the girl. Rude didn't really describe his behavior toward her when they had boarded the transport at NERV. He had been an absolute frigid asshole something he had never been and knew he had been taking his anger out on her. Still he wondered if his fury and forced separation had even affected her. His attempt at speaking went nowhere when he noticed the warning light of impending jump-out in the corner of his vision.  
  
"I'm sorry, Rei."  
  
- - - -  
  
The ultra-light reconnaissance drone provided a constant display of the surrounding terrain and all movement within range. Now, Shinji was nestled under camouflage netting while his body armor continually suppressed his thermal and bio-signatures studying that map. He was on the periphery of the jungle and grasslands overlooking a four-lane highway. Of course, he was fifteen kilometers away with the barrel of his rail gun projecting just beyond the edge of the netting. A red reticule appeared with alphanumerics denoting that his target had just left his business.  
  
He hated assassinations that in his mind served no purpose, especially when it advanced one ideology over another. And that was what his father was having him do by murdering the chief executive officer of a little-known manufacturing company. For the briefest of moments, he considered aborting the mission and damn his father and the recordings of his mother. He could've left it for Rei, but she was two hundred kilometers away carrying out her own mission. Sighing, he activated his hardwiring and lost all emotions as the drugs and programming took over.  
  
An indifferent command caused the gun's generator to spool up and begin charging its internal capacitors for the shot. He heard the almost inaudible hum of a chambering round; knowing a simple three-pronged clasp was holding it in place. Shinji knew that at his command, the round would be released and accelerated down the two meter barrel by magnets until it left the barrel at a velocity of 160 kilometers per second. Once that occurred nothing could stop the hypersonic projectile except extremely thick and dense armor, and his target wouldn't have armor. His thumb slid across the safety as the reticule cleared the hills and he gently pulled on the trigger.  
  
His vision turned red as alarms shrieked in his head at the protests of the gun. Not even taking the time to acknowledge the displays, Shinji's hardwiring already had him in motion. Servos hummed and he flew two meters from the gun landing on his feet. The moment his boots touched firm ground, he was sprinting through the jungle dodging trees before diving into a depression. His vision blackened when the overrides for his vision kicked in and he heard the sharp crack of the gun self-destructing. Before his hearing had returned, he was putting as much distance between him and his former position.  
  
"Damn it!"  
  
The whistle of incoming rounds drowned his curse out before the ground shook at their detonation. Shinji didn't acknowledge their presence as another electronic scream reverberated in his skull when a surface to air missile took out his drone. He overrode his hardwiring after six kilometers slowing to a trot and finally taking stock of his situation. That he had been betrayed was a given, but his immediate survival took precedence over getting revenge on those who had sold him out.  
  
Accessing the last overlay from his drone, he plotted the possible positioning of the artillery and their protective soldiers. Crimson circles still speckled the map even after he had removed placements in rivers and mountains. Groaning, he cleared his display keeping only those that he might have a probability of encountering. Once he had that accomplished, he called up the list of possible hideouts he had assembled days ago. All the while he was continuing to run through the jungle his senses straining to pick up any anomalies before finally altering course.  
  
Two hours later and three patrols dodged, the roar of water filled Shinji's hearing and he finally relaxed. Moving to the edge of the cliff, he gazed at the falls before falling flat and studying the cliff face. Minutes later, he spotted the slight depression he had been looking for and got to his feet moving to a large boulder. Shrugging out of his pack, he searched through a side pocket quickly finding what he needed.  
  
Taking a small disk with an eyelet mounted in the center he pressed it against the rock and waited for it to molecularly bond with the stone. Once done, he reached back into his pack and withdrew one hundred meters of monofilament cable. He fed it through the winch at his waist and attached it to the eyelet before throwing the coil over the cliff. Taking a deep breath, he eased himself over the edge before releasing his breath and repelling down the rock face.  
  
- - - -  
  
Shinji Ikari was alone for the first time since his mother's death and his abandonment. He had always had someone to talk to, whether it was a real person or simply an AI. However, as he sat huddled up in the corner of the cave he had taken refuge in he felt alone and scared. He missed Yui's conversation after a mission, or Rebecca's way of speaking that allowed him to let go of his tension. Now, he'd even accept Touji and Kensuke's useless banter about sports, school, or women. Yet he had none of that and with the rush of combat and fighting for his survival gone, he was lonely.  
  
After he had entered the cave, he had immediately inspected his equipment with a critical eye. What he had found only reinforced what he had already known. The saboteur had ensured the destruction of the equipment he hadn't personally inspected or packed before the mission. His vandal had overlooked his fully charged pistol and carbine along with four decoys. Unfortunately, the person ensured he'd run out of food in five days and unable to communicate with anyone.  
  
Smoothing out a hardcopy of the area, he plotted his position comparing it to his original drop zone and the spaceport. He knew that returning to his landing craft wouldn't be possible. It would've been the first place that the soldiers would've looked since his betrayer would've made sure to provide a signal to locate it. Sneaking into the spaceport would be a daunting task and just not because of security. At his best possible speed and cutting his rations in half it'd take fourteen days to reach, four days after he'd run out of food.  
  
Closing his eyes, Shinji knew that he had no choice but to make for the spaceport and try to either sneak aboard a ship, or hijack one. He replaced the map in a hip pocket and lay on his back staring up at the ceiling. For the longest time, he tried dredging up memories when he'd been in situations like the current one, but quickly gave up. Pulling the thin thermal blanket over himself, he turned on his side using his pack as a pillow and soon fell asleep.  
  
- - - -  
  
Trees shredded effortlessly under the heavy aerial bombardment as the attack choppers pumped rockets at their target. On the fringes of the devastation, armored troopers were making their way through the thinning forest. A cry of victory went out over the network when one of the rockets finally impacted with the intruder. For the briefest of moments, the pursuing soldiers stared into the heart of a nuclear maelstrom. The echo of the nuclear self-destruct of the decoy echoed off the surrounding hills and turned communications into static.  
  
From kilometers away, Shinji heard the dull thump of the detonation and stopped to lean against a nearby tree. He grabbed his canteen and swore at the red light on its cap telling him decontamination wasn't yet completed. Swearing, he replaced the container on his belt and wiped at his sweaty brow before restarting his perilous trek. He knew with the destruction of his decoy that he was down to two more before he was on his own. Still there was no doubt in his mind that he'd survive and that he'd collect his due when he returned.  
  
"Damn you father," he muttered under his breath.  
  
The spaceport was only three hours away at his best speed but he was tired and hungry. For the last couple of days, he had used stimulants to force himself to stay awake while ignoring his growling stomach. Not only, that but the patrols had grown thicker while his cover was thinning out into grasslands. He had wisely saved his decoys for this part of his trek and with a groan he activated the one fifteen kilometers south of his position. The last one he put on standby with orders to head for the cargo entrance of the spaceport.  
  
Dark puffs of smoke quickly appeared over the area his decoy was entering, but the airbursts missed. From his position, he couldn't see the cautious approach of the attack helicopters, but he could hear them. He toggled a switch for the decoy activating its self-destruct when a black dot hovered in the distance. With that done, he finally eased out into the grasslands and took up a zigzagging course.  
  
- - - -  
  
The touch of something cold and damp placed on his forehead caused Shinji to wake from his slumber. With a lot of effort, he forced himself to open his eyes and instantly regretted it, but he didn't close them. Trying to turn his head, he quickly realized that he had been strapped into the bunk and his neck braced by his rescuers. He felt a small tube at his lips and tasted filtered, cold water when he finally took a tentative sip. His benefactor removed the straw after a couple soothing sips, and a woman's face appeared above his own. Short reddish-brown hair framed a gentle face while green eyes calmly studied him.  
  
"Who... are you...?" Shinji croaked after a couple attempts.  
  
"Lieutenant Christine Weber of the Colonial Marine Corps Heavy Cruiser Ramiel," she answered. "We're one hour from reaching Martian orbit."  
  
Her statement only confused the man because the last thing he clearly remembered was sprinting across a taxiway toward an open hatch. Everything was fuzzy after the moment he had stepped inside the airlock until he blacked out. Panic rose up within Shinji when he remembered why he had blacked out and he tried sitting up. Again the medical bunk restrained him and Lieutenant Weber smiled at his efforts. Pressing a button on his bed, she sat down on a chair that rose out of the floor.  
  
"So why were you being targeted by the Gryphons?" She noticed his discomfort and reassured him, "You're not under arrest or anything, Mister Ikari."  
  
"I was doublecrossed."  
  
"By whom?"  
  
"I don't know," he told her.  
  
Christine nodded. "That's a common occurrence in your profession."  
  
Shinji found himself growing drowsy and wondered what else had been in the water he had drunk. However, he also found himself not wanting to talk anymore about what had happened. That his attackers had a name didn't matter since they wouldn't disclose their client's name. All he would be able do was put out his own feelers and hire a few of the best crackers in the business. He could press his father for information but that would've been a useless endeavor because the bastard would never yield. Yet, before he could drift back into sleep there was one bit of information he needed from the woman.  
  
"How did I end up here?" he inquired.  
  
"You ran into our shuttle with a squad of mercenaries hot on your heels," Weber began. "Normally we would've turned you over to them once verifying their claims or contract, but we were looking for you."  
  
"What?" He tried to sit up, but for the third time, the bed held him in place.  
  
"Marines have long memories and they're even longer when they involve famous officers," she explained. "We received a signal from one of our former officers to be on the lookout for you and to render any assistance."  
  
He knew about whom she was talking. "Misato Katsuragi."  
  
"That'd be Major Katsuragi and that's all you need to know!"  
  
"But..."  
  
She pressed a hypo against his neck. "No buts, Mister Ikari. And it's time for you to go back to sleep."  
  
- - - -  
  
"How are you doing?" Misato asked, stepping through the door.  
  
"Okay considering everything that's happened," he told her.  
  
After sleeping on the cruiser, he had woken in the sterile environment of a hospital. That surprise had been nothing compared to the shock of what had happened. He remembered taking a couple injuries, but had dismissed them thinking they were minor. But minor never resulted in amputation or replacement of body parts.  
  
"Don't give me that bullshit, Shinji."  
  
"It's not a big deal, Misato," he repeated holding up his right arm.  
  
He had taken a heavy round in the arm and despite the doctors attempts they had had to amputate it above the elbow. Currently, the stump was sealed in a clear container filled with laced LCL to keep the nerve endings stimulated and the flesh nourished. A brace enclosed his knee, keeping it immobilized while his body healed from the operation. Sure this was the first time he had suffered so much on mission, but all in all, it wasn't severe.  
  
"My replacement arm will be grown and attached in a couple days," he told her. "After that, it'll be another day of testing to make sure all the connections are working. Once that's done all they have to do is reintegrate the nerves back into my combat software." He gave her a small smile. "Like I said nothing to be worked up about."  
  
"And what about your accusations?" she whispered. "What are you going to do about them?"  
  
Shinji closed his eyes thinking and reopened. "I don't know what I'm going to do about the doublecross."  
  
"You don't know, or you do know but you're not going to tell me."  
  
"I don't know what I'm going to do," he repeated. He grabbed a glass off a small tray and drank in silence. When he was done, he looked at Misato. "So you want to tell me what happened?"  
  
She looked at him puzzled. "Tell you what?"  
  
"You know," he chuckled at her surprise. "What got you kicked out of the Marines?"  
  
"What brought that up?"  
  
"Marine cruisers aren't in the habit of helping civilians, let alone taking orders from them," he told her. "Not only that but the lieutenant mentioned something about famous officers. In addition, she emphasized your rank when I mentioned your name. So you want to tell me what happened?"  
  
"Periapt."  
  
The single word hit Shinji like the round that had claimed his arm and he sat there quietly. Everyone knew the planet by that name and the rebellion that had sprung up because Federation laws. It had lasted for ten years and been a brutal war where both sides had committed atrocities. Both the Federation and rebels had used chemical and nano weapons on lightly defended population centers. Six years earlier though the rebellion ended brutally with the deaths of its leaders and their subordinates. Five thousand people had died in a single massive operation with none of rebels surviving the attack. The dead included woman and children in their teens, which caused a cry of outrage in the media.  
  
"You follow orders and successfully complete the mission given to you and you still end being screwed," she bitterly replied. "I got a promotion and a general discharge all at the same time. A pat on the back and a boot to the ass for my services."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Why are you apologizing?" She moved from the wall to a chair. "You weren't responsible for my actions or the Corps decision."  
  
"I'm sorry for bringing up the past," he explained. "You probably wanted to forget it."  
  
"I never said that, did I?" She reached and ruffled his hair. "There are things in life that you can never have control over. The best you can do is learn from them and move on. It hurt my pride when I was discharged but I realized that there was nothing I could do."  
  
The pair fell silent each having said their piece and thinking of what each had said. Shinji quietly studied Misato's face and realized that despite her words what had happened to her still hurt. Her eyes were distant although she was staring at him, a sure sign that she was reliving a piece of her past. Yet as he reached for her hand, she gave herself a good shake and came out of her self-induced trance. Her eyes locked onto his and he could tell she had reached a decision about something.  
  
"You know you can trust me, Shinji," she began. "Even though I work for your father doesn't mean I gave up my right to think independently. If you need help or anything I'll stand by your side."  
  
"I know but for the moment I can't do anything until I get more information." He grinned. "When I learn more I'll inform you."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
- - - -  
  
"I see."  
  
Shinji stood up from where he had been sitting and walked toward the office doors. He could barely hear the servos of the unit strapped around his knee as he walked. What he had said to Misato in the hospital hadn't been the complete truth. Sure his arm had healed quickly and been reintegrated with his software, but his knee was another story. The joint had been completely destroyed and rebuilt resulting in a dull throb as his body adapted to the replacement parts. Yet, it wasn't the physical pain that had him leaving.  
  
He should've known that the bastard wouldn't hold up to his end of the bargain, but he had hoped. And his hope had been crushed under reality, as his logic had proved correct. Gendo had patiently listened to his arguments without showing a hint of emotion. Silence had filled the room before the man had refused his plea for a portion of the recordings. He hadn't completed the job and therefore he wasn't entitled to any compensation, although he had been ambushed.  
  
"Don't do anything you'll regret."  
  
Gendo felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up when his son glanced over his shoulder. He expected a look of outrage or even sadness, but he was disappointed. Shinji's face was empty of all emotions, his eyes dark blue barriers as he stared back at him. Then without saying another word, Shinji triggered the door sensor and strode out of the office.  
  
- - - -  
  
"This has gone on long enough?"  
  
Misato felt her eyebrow twitch as she muttered those words while staring down at Shinji. She had let the young man alone, having known what happened both on the mission and afterward. Still she could only tolerate so much of his behavior. Five days had passed since he had retreated to his room without once exiting it. The school had called asking for details because he had been missing for a month, and all she could tell them was that he'd be back the next day. It was that promise that had forced her hand and she had walked into his bedroom to find him in the face.  
  
Reaching down she pulled out a thin wire and carefully attached it to a socket at her temple. There transition from reality to cyberspace was immediate as the room disappeared from her vision. Nausea washed over Misato as a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes assaulted her. It took a moment for her crystal to translate the data and shift the surroundings into something less confusing. Still Misato had to study her environment before realizing what she was seeing rushing past her.  
  
Every cybernetically enhanced person she knew personalized how he or she interpreted data. Some had created a model of an office where they could sit at a desk. Others had used nature scenes with animals representing a packet of information. A few people liked to organize the data flow into a wall that they flew over picking out what they needed. What they all had in common was a sense of order, a representation of their lives.  
  
Shinji's personalization was a chaotic swirling mass flowing in all directions. Yet, as she floated and in a data stream Misato saw that it wasn't unorganized. A command sent her flying to a trail of information which flowed in the opposite direction of its compatriots. She screamed when something snagged her avatar and began dragging her into the center of the storm. Fighting was useless since she couldn't see captor, so she relaxed as much as possible during her involuntary journey. After what seemed several minutes, Misato smiled when she spotted three figures standing upon a disk in the distance.  
  
"Misato," Shinji cordially greeted her when she finally stood before him. "Thank you for bringing her, Yui."  
  
The security officer was shocked when a female materialized. "You're welcome, Shinji."  
  
"I want you three to continue to coordinate your efforts," the bounty hunter told the people surrounding him. "I know it's rough with all the security, but its imperative that we crack that wall."  
  
"We know what we have to do," Maya grumbled. "But you realize that we're talking about level twenty security demon patrols at the very least. We don't even know what we'll find when we break through."  
  
Hyuga patted her shoulder. "And we do know all our lives are at stake with the doublecross."  
  
"Sorry, it's just that this is..."  
  
"It's all right," Yui told him before the trio started fading. "We'll be in touch."  
  
Misato was shocked when the chaos disappeared and a facsimile of her living room appeared before her. She watched her charge walk over to the couch and collapse into it with a heavy sigh. Moving to her favorite chair, Misato sat down and waited her anger somewhat diminished. It didn't take long for Shinji to lower his gaze from staring into infinity to look at her.  
  
"You're pissed at me," he stated with a smirk.  
  
"A little," she answered. "You've been here for five days, and your school is wondering when you'll be returning."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"That's not going to work with me, mister." She stood up and walked over to him. The young man wasn't intimidated while she towered over him. "Of course, I'm mad."  
  
"Then how about a nice dinner?"  
  
"Jerk! I've been worried about you!"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
- - - -  
  
"So what are you going to do about your son?"  
  
Gendo continued to stare at the ceiling ignoring Ritsuko caressing his chest. His son had been close when he had called the blonde woman a fuck toy. She was nothing like Yui in bed or work, but she did fill a hole in his life. Wincing when nails dug into his chest, he turned his eyes to woman next to him and frowned at seeing her lighting up.  
  
"Nothing," he told her.  
  
Ritsuko blew a column of smoke toward the ceiling. "You know it's dangerous to let him run around without control. SEELE won't tolerate any interference from him nor will you."  
  
"It is of no consequence to me what my son does."  
  
"You're playing both sides against one another, aren't you," the blonde didn't have to wait for an answer. "It's just like what you did with Periapt and the rebels. You're playing a dangerous game with SEELE, Gendo."  
  
"Indeed."  
  
* * * *  
  
Nothing much to say here. Asuka and Kaji will finally make their appearance in the next chapter. I haven't really decided how I'm going to portray their relationship. However, I am leaning toward how Sadamoto shows it in the manga. As for her relationship with Shinji, I have a clearer idea.  
  
C&C welcome at eva_pilot9@doramail.com 


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